"Unhappy with Work Performance"... Brothers Running Chicken Restaurant Abused Employee with Intellectual Disability

Sentenced to 4 Years and 1 Year Imprisonment, Taken into Custody
'160 Million Won if You Escape Workplace' Forced IOU Revealed

A pair of brothers who own a chicken restaurant were sentenced to prison and taken into custody after assaulting a staff member with an intellectual disability in his 20s by pouring hot tteokbokki broth on his arm and searing him with a pot, reportedly because they were dissatisfied with his work performance.

On the 5th, Yonhap News reported that the Chuncheon District Court Wonju Branch Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Park Hyunjin) sentenced brothers A (29) and B (31), who were indicted without detention on charges including special injury, instigation of special injury, fraud, extortion, special theft, and special coercion. Younger brother A was sentenced to four years in prison, and older brother B received a one-year prison sentence. The court ordered their immediate detention, as they had been on trial without detention until then. Additionally, C (27), an employee working at the chicken restaurant operated by A, was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year probation period on the charge of special injury only.

Chuncheon District Court Wonju Branch Photo by Yonhap News Agency

A was prosecuted for assaulting employee D (24) at the chicken restaurant he operated in Wonju, Gangwon Province, from July 28 to November 2022. The assaults occurred because D was late for work or did not perform kitchen assistant duties to their satisfaction, either by A alone or jointly with his older brother B and employee C.

A and the others exploited the fact that D had a mild intellectual disability with a somewhat low IQ, abusing and committing various crimes against him in multiple ways. As a result of their crimes, victim D suffered deformation of his right ear, extensive burns on his right arm from the hot tteokbokki broth, and multiple scars.

The court stated, "The crimes were committed without regard for the victim's suffering, treating him merely as a means, which is evaluated as a violation of human dignity and value." It pointed out, "In particular, A committed numerous and varied offenses, and the severity of the harm caused was significant." The court added, "However, considering that employee C's involvement was the lightest and that the victim expressed a desire not to press charges, the sentence was determined accordingly."

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