A civil servant who called to ask if he had a boyfriend after checking his school records...Court "reasonable for honesty"

A court ruled that it was reasonable to suspend a public official who contacted him privately after finding out the student's mobile phone number through an inquiry into university records.

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by a university official A against the Seoul Metropolitan Government, asking for the cancellation of the suspension.

The court pointed out that the degree of misconduct is not light, such as unilaterally contacting A by acquiring personal information without permission using his/her job status and mentioning the relationship between men and women.

In 2022, Mr. A called after finding out student B's phone number through an inquiry of school records and said, "Do you have a boyfriend or not, I tried to do well."

Since then, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has suspended Mr. A for one month after judging that he violated his duty of integrity and dignity under the Local Public Officials Act.

As a result, A filed a petition with the Seoul Metropolitan Government Appeals Review Committee for an appeal review, but it was rejected, and he even filed an administrative lawsuit against it.