'This place is insane — I downed 4 bomb shots the moment I arrived': KakaoTalk messages of dead Gwangju firefighter revealed

The boyfriend of a female firefighter in her 20s who died in Gwangju has come forward with allegations of coercive drinking culture and gapjil — workplace abuse — at her station, urging a thorough investigation into the circumstances of her death.

According to information the boyfriend, identified only as A, shared with media Thursday, the woman — to whom he had been engaged — had been struggling with workplace harassment before she died last October while working at a fire station in Gwangju. The harassment included excessive team dinners and pressure to drink.

KakaoTalk messages A exchanged with the woman show her writing: "We had a team dinner and I threw up 10 times," "They won't let me leave even when I'm drunk," "This place is insane, they drink so fast," and "I downed four bomb shots the moment I arrived."

In another message, she told A she was uncomfortable about being asked to go to a noraebang — a karaoke bar — alone with her male team leader, writing: "I think I have to go to a noraebang — just the two of us, my team leader says he wants to go."

"She can't drink at all, but she felt she had no choice but to go to the dinners for fear of being disliked if she skipped them," A said. "She would come home and vomit multiple times, so drunk she could barely function."

The controversy extended to how the case was handled after her death. According to A, the Gwangju Fire Headquarters listed the cause of death as "discord with her fiancé" on the dismissal-by-death paperwork filed following her death last October.

When A objected, the Gwangju Fire Headquarters distributed an official notice saying it would conduct a reinvestigation. A then visited the National Fire Agency — the headquarters' supervising body — alongside bereaved family members and fire union officials to demand a full probe, and a related internal audit began last month.

The Gwangju Fire Headquarters said in response that while there had been a request for an audit, it had determined the matter had not been formally filed as an official complaint. A said the document forced him to hear people at the funeral home say she "died because of her boyfriend." He called it "an insult to the deceased and secondary harm inflicted on the bereaved family."

President Lee wrote on his X account Thursday that he found it "truly deplorable that officials like this still exist," and ordered that any investigation be conducted by the Office for Government Policy Coordination rather than the National Fire Agency to ensure objectivity.

He added that if the investigation confirmed coerced drinking at team dinners and the suppression of audit requests, those responsible would face "the maximum possible accountability — disciplinary action, criminal punishment, civil damages and indemnity claims — so that malicious workplace gapjil and the concealment or suppression of misconduct can never again be contemplated in this country."

The Office for Government Policy Coordination also released a statement Thursday saying it would promptly launch an investigation into the allegations surrounding the firefighter's death in accordance with the president's directive, pledging to "make the facts crystal clear." If you or someone you know is struggling, free and confidential mental health crisis counseling is available 24 hours a day by calling 1393.