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A 36-year-old worker at SeAH Besteel, a medium-sized domestic steel company, committed suicide three years ago.
His parents and family have contacted MBC to inform the world of this death.
He joined the company as a contract worker, became a full-time employee, and was about to get promoted.
It contained detailed records of sexual harassment and bullying experienced by supervisors on an ongoing basis.
First of all, reporter Kim Soo-geun will tell you.
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Nine men soaking their feet in the creek.
Only two are clothed, the rest are naked and only their crotches are covered with their hands.
In June 2012, SeAH Besteel Gunsan Plant’s steelmaking team colleagues’ picnic photos.
The youngest, Mo Yu, who joined the company for two months at the time, is hiding behind other employees with his shoulders hunched.
On November 25, 2018, six years later, Yoo was found dead in his car in an empty lot at the mouth of the Geum River.
[故 유00 유족]
“I was lying on the driver’s seat like this. The moment I touched it, I immediately thought, ‘Oh, this is really wrong’…”
It has been three days since I lost contact after leaving the house saying “I go to my own room” in front of the factory.
The mobile phone found together contained a 25-minute video filmed at the last minute and a will with the title ‘A letter to you’.
On the far left of the photo of the picnic in the early days of joining the company, Mr. Ji, a class leader wearing clothes and a hat upside down.
Yoo wrote about the group photo, saying, “It’s a photo that Ji is proud of.” “There will be more on the company PC, so I hope that there will be no victims like me.”
Immediately after joining the company, Yoo pointed out that Ji had been continuously sexually harassing and harassing.
[유서(대독)]
“I asked if Ji had tattoos in the month he joined the company (April 2012). He made me wear only panties, looked over his body, and gave me shame in front of many people. I couldn’t talk because I didn’t want to be photographed.
“A kiss at a costume shop around 16:30 on December 10, 2016, a kiss at the entrance of a karaoke room around 17:40”
Along with the specific record, he also wrote, “I hate to act like that.”
Around 2014, when Mr. Yoo underwent major surgery for an ‘audible nerve tumor’, a type of brain tumor, he said that he gave him a face-off.
[유서(대독)]
“It sounds like a scream. Do you have a brain tumor? It really breaks my heart. Why do you have to talk in a loud voice in a crowd like that, and it hurts you beyond comfort…”
Mr. Yoo, who was having a hard time with hearing loss due to a noisy department when working, asked to change departments, but it was not accepted.
[故 유00 유족]
“I only told my family at this level of ‘It’s too hard, you just cursed me and bullied me’, but I didn’t go into details. No one knew how serious the situation was.”
In the photo of the picnic, Mr. Jo, a senior citizen who is still wearing clothes.
Regarding Jo, Mr. Yoo wrote, “Why are you so nervous that you can’t eat me like this? Stop touching your genitals and don’t hit me in the head,” and “I want a strong punishment.”
Regarding Deputy Manager Song Mo of the Human Resources Team, he said that he forcibly put a thermometer in his ear while making an issue with the year he wrote according to the procedure or checking “Do you hear well?”
Yoo, who wrote down all the things that happened to him during the six years he worked at SeAH Besteel, ended with the words he left to his juniors, saying, “Let’s not suffer from garbage-like insects.”
[故 유00 유족]
“I wonder how big this knot had to be, so he would only talk about the bad memories he had and just make such a choice.”
This is Kim Soo-geun from MBC News.
Video coverage: Heo Won-cheol, Kang Jong-soo / Video editing: Kim Jae-hwan
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The contents of the shocking will of the deceased were also found to be true during the company’s investigation, and it was also confirmed that there were other victims.
Nevertheless, the company said that the people involved were repenting of their mistakes, and only issued a ‘disposition of honesty for three months’.
Then, reporter Son Ha-neul covered it.
◀ Report ▶
This is the incident investigation report obtained by MBC.
At the request of SeAH Besteel, a labor law firm conducted an investigation on 15 related employees for a month and found that most of the contents of the suicide note were true.
Five related employees consistently stated, “‘My boss, Mr. Ji, gathered new employees and made them take all their clothes off, saying, ‘I’ll do a tattoo test.'”
Yoo’s motive for joining the company was, “Mr. Ji asked ‘Does anyone have tattoos?’ and he answered ‘no’, including Mr. Yoo, but he made me take off my clothes in a place where everyone was, leaving only my panties.”
In the case of nude photos taken by Mr. Ji at a department picnic, it was revealed that he kept them on the company computer for years and printed them out on A4 paper to show them to new employees.
[故 유00 유족]
“They said they saved the nude photos on a public computer, made them available for other people to see, and showed them off like pride. They said ‘Look at this’ to new hires…”
It was also revealed that when Ji was drunk at a dinner party, he habitually kissed male seniors and juniors, swearing and swearing.
[故 유00 후배(조사보고서 대독)]
“Once you start speaking, it usually takes 30 minutes, and you usually talk for an hour.
Regarding another senior Mr. Cho, “I touched Yoo’s genitals frequently in the office, and Mr. Yoo said ‘I feel bad'”, two male employees testified.
They confessed that not only Yoo, but also themselves suffered the same damage.
The Labor Law Firm issued a 62-page report, saying, “Mr. Ji, the head of the class, and Mr. Jo, the senior, clearly acted harshly, and Mr. Yoo complained of serious shame and stress.” “The perpetrators need severe punishment.” concluded.
In particular, he pointed out, “Sexual harassment in the workplace, such as Ji’s order to change clothes, sexual harassment during a dinner party, and taking pictures of the naked body, is an act that can even lead to dismissal.”
The steelmaking team leader who was aware of the two men’s various types of cruelty and neglected them was also advised to “remove him from his post.”
However, the result of the company’s disciplinary action a month later was different from the expectations of the bereaved family.
Although the perpetrators’ actions were “acts that seriously disturbed the corporate order,” class leader Ji was suspended for 3 months and senior Cho, suspended for only 2 months.
The reason was that “I deeply regret my mistake and have a heart for opening the war”.
The steelmaking team leader, who was responsible for management, did not receive any disciplinary action at all.
[故 유00 유족]
“Only when (the perpetrators) were disciplined at that time, my salary was temporarily suspended and I pretended to reflect, and now I’m like, ‘I didn’t do that’… I just went crazy.”
The perpetrators returned after the suspension period was over and are still working at the company.
This is Son Ha-neul from MBC News.
Video coverage: Lee Sang-yong / Video editing: Song Ji-won
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The company said that “the perpetrators repented of their wrongdoing”, but their words and actions were far from remorse and apology.
In the company investigation, there were also testimonies that he responded with ridicule and ridicule, and that he even spoke vaguely at the funeral of the deceased.
Disgruntled families went to the police, but now the witnesses have kept their mouths shut.
Reporter Ji-in Kim will continue to deliver.
◀ Report ▶
SeAH Besteel’s research report.
When asked, “Why did you take off your clothes in front of so many people to have your tattoo checked?”, Ji Mo, a class leader who was identified as the perpetrator, replied, “If that’s a problem, I can’t go to the bathroom.”
He claimed that the nude photo of the picnic was “I took it off to get into the water because it was cold and hot,” and “I didn’t do it myself.”
Regarding the repeated ‘kiss on the cheek’ sexual assault, he said, “Yesterday, I came to give my daughter a kiss, but it’s a big deal.”
Even at the funeral where Ji had passed away, he said in front of his subordinates, “Do your best not to enter the coffin.”
[故 유00 동료(2020년 8월 녹취)]
“I said, ‘You too go into coffins like that, and if you don’t want to be like that, do your best’. At that crematorium.”
Another perpetrator, Mo Jo, gave an absurd explanation for the sexual harassment of repeatedly touching the genitals, saying, “I was trying to treat a deceased person who was less talkative.”
The Labor Law Firm, which investigated the case, noted in the report, “We do not sympathize with the victim’s shame, and we consistently use excuses and do not reflect.”
[故 유00 유족]
“(The perpetrators) now casually cussing at my younger brother, saying, ‘If you want to die well, do you make it hard for me?’
In January last year, the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service admitted that Yoo’s death was an industrial accident caused by workplace harassment, and the bereaved family reported Ji and Cho to the police on charges of sexual harassment.
However, the investigative agency concluded that they could not be punished, saying, “The statute of limitations for prosecution has passed or there is not enough evidence because it was a long time ago.”
The colleagues who testified at the time of the company investigation are still attending SeAH Besteel, so they are not cooperating properly.
[故 유 씨 측 변호사]
“Even if (colleagues) testify, there are some people who avoid talking about important things. If you could help me understand why he died…”
The perpetrator Ji did not respond to inquiries from MBC reporters.
Senior Cho replied, “In 2018, I was swept away by the atmosphere and just admitted that I was wrong, but I didn’t actually do anything wrong.”
[조 모 씨]
“Why did you apologize? The social atmosphere was really strange. Maybe they used the #MeToo incident in 2018… The only thing we did was good, we.”
The bereaved family recently filed an appeal to the prosecution asking for a re-investigation, and also filed a claim for damages against the perpetrators.
[故 유00 어머니]
“I should have forgotten, but I forget that… Oh, how pitiful I am.
This is Kim Ji-in from MBC News.
Video coverage: Park Joo-joo / Video editing: Jo Ara
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