ULSAN — A court has fined the chief executive and a director of a food manufacturer for repeatedly demeaning and hurling abuse at an employee in a company group messenger chat.
Judge Song In-chul of the Ulsan District Court's Criminal Division 9 fined the executives, identified as A and B, 1 million won each on summary indictment for insult, legal sources said on the 2nd.
A, the company's chief executive, was charged with publicly insulting an employee identified as C on 32 occasions over about two years starting in November 2022, using expressions such as "blockhead" and "nutcase" and swearing at C in a KakaoTalk group chat that included company staff.
B, a director at the same company, was accused of making similar demeaning remarks 20 times in the same group chat, including calling C "crazy," causing humiliation and shame.
C suffered severe psychological distress from the executives' continued and repeated verbal abuse and eventually filed a criminal complaint against the two with police.
"Considering the content of the abusive language and the duration of the offense, the nature of the crime is not good, and the victim appears to have suffered considerable psychological distress," the court said. "The victim still wants the defendants punished."
The court added that it took into account in sentencing that the defendants admitted the offense and expressed remorse, and that they were first-time offenders with no prior criminal record.
