Supreme Court upholds demotion of officer who confessed love to cafe owner on patrol

South Korea's Supreme Court has ruled that demoting a police officer who repeatedly approached a female cafe owner to confess his feelings during patrol duty — even after she rejected him — was justified.

According to legal sources Monday, the Supreme Court's First Division, presided over by Justice Shin Suk-hee, overturned a lower court ruling that had sided with Officer A in his lawsuit seeking to nullify the demotion order against the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency chief, and remanded the case to the Busan High Court. The ruling was issued Sept. 3.

A, appointed as a patrol officer in 2001, was serving at a police box under the Busan Haeundae Police Station in April 2023 when he visited a cafe run by a woman he was interested in during his rounds. Standing outside the window, he held up a sketchbook with a written confession of his feelings.

An investigation found that he continued to approach the woman and repeat his confessions even after she made clear she was not interested.

The Supreme Court said A "caused the cafe owner psychological distress, including sexual discomfort and aversion, by repeatedly and persistently approaching her and confessing his feelings during working hours, despite her expressed refusal."

The sketchbook incident was not the only reason A was demoted.

In July of the same year, after handling a traffic accident report, A asked a junior officer to obtain and pass along the contact information of the at-fault driver. After receiving the phone number, he told a colleague, "If that woman is single, it wouldn't be a crime to contact her."

That same month, A responded to a report that a separated husband was refusing to leave the house. After confirming at the scene that nothing was wrong, he made inappropriate remarks when the same complaint was filed again, saying, "Don't police words count for anything? Someone who wants to kill themselves doesn't get irritated." He was also found to have mocked a person with a disability, which was included among the disciplinary grounds.

When complaints were filed over his conduct, A called the complainant 20 times and sent 19 text messages asking them to withdraw the grievance. He did so despite a superior's explicit order not to contact the complainant.

The disciplinary committee of the Busan Haeundae Police Station cited five grounds for the demotion: inappropriate conduct and damage to professional dignity, violation of orders and coercion to withdraw a complaint, gapjil toward a junior officer, unlawful acquisition of personal information, and neglect of duty.

A appealed to the Ministry of Personnel Management's appeals review committee, but after that appeal was dismissed, he filed an administrative lawsuit.

The first court upheld the demotion as lawful and dismissed A's claim. The second court, however, found that while his remarks during the suicide-concern call were inappropriate, they did not rise to the level of insult, and that his comments toward the junior officer were insufficient to constitute gapjil. On those grounds, it ruled that the remaining violations alone did not warrant a penalty as severe as demotion.

The Supreme Court disagreed, finding that coercing the complainant to withdraw the grievance alone was enough to show that "the misconduct was serious and highly blameworthy, and that it severely undermined discipline within the police organization and public trust in it." The court said the appellate ruling — which had found the demotion to be an abuse of discretionary authority — "erred in its understanding of the legal principles governing the limits of disciplinary discretion, and that error affected the outcome of the judgment," explaining its decision to remand the case to the Busan High Court.

If you're thinking about self-harm or suicide, dial the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 109 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week). You can also reach the Korea Crisis Line at 1393 or send a text to 109.