Civil servant found dead after personal information leaks online

A civil servant whose personal information was leaked online was found dead, the police said on Wednesday.

A grade nine civil servant was found dead Tuesday after suffering from malicious complaints about a construction that the official approved. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

A civil servant whose personal information was leaked online was found dead, the police said on Wednesday.

According to the Incheon Seobu Police Precinct, the official in his 30s was found dead in a car parked along a road in Seo District, Incheon, at 3:40 p.m. on Tuesday. The police found the civil servant with no pulse upon arrival, along with evidence leading to suicide.

The grade nine civil servant, who worked for the Gimpo City Hall, was suffering from complaints about a traffic jam due to construction. The construction was done a day before the March 1 Independence Movement Day, which is a holiday in Korea, and dealt with a pothole on the road. It was an emergency construction that blocked two lanes of the three-lane road and was done without prior warning.

The day of the construction, someone uploaded a post at night complaining about the traffic jam due to construction. The complaint was posted on an online portal Naver community site and said the road was like a "parking lot."

There were no comments criticizing the civil servant for approving the construction until somebody disclosed the official's personal information shortly after the original post. The comment included the official’s name, department and office number.

After the disclosure, comments criticizing and blaming the civil servant flooded in.

The comments read: “I want to grab the official, who may be resting at home, by the collar,” “The official must be insane, blocking two roads” and “The civil servant must be out of his mind.”

Six days after construction, the civil servant was found dead.

“The civil servant recently had a hard time managing complaints about the construction and receiving malicious comments online,” a Gimpo city government official said. “The city plans to take action against the matter.”

The police, however, said that they did not find any causal relation between the complaints and the late official’s death during an investigation with the family of the official.

“No suicide note written by the civil servant was found,” the police said. “We currently do not see any criminal charges regarding the case.”

The online community operator posted an apology concerning the case.

“I feel a wave of guilt and sadness hearing that the death of a civil servant was related to this site,” the operator said.

“At the time, I perceived it as a simple complaining post and didn’t know that there were comments disclosing personal information and attacking the official,” the operator added. “From now on, I will keep a close eye on such posts and comments.”

If you or someone you know is feeling emotionally distressed or struggling with thoughts of suicide, LifeLine Korea can be contacted at 1588-9191 or the Crisis Counseling Center at 1577-0199. The Seoul Global Center offers English-language counseling, contact 02-2075-4180 (+1) to arrange a session. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

BY JEONG HYE-JEONG, KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]