Civic Groups Call for Punishment of E-Mart Managers

Civic groups in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province show the text messages posted by Electro Mart employees in a Kakao Talk chatting room in a news conference held in front of the company’s Wolbae branch in Daegu on Sep. 3.

Employees of Electro Mart, a home electronics discount store chain operated by E-Mart, habitually committed sexual harassments against their female customers in a Kakao Talk chatting room, civic groups in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province claimed on Sept. 3

The civic groups asserted that tens of Electro Mart managers working in Gangwon Province, Jeju Island, Mokpo, Daegu and other parts of the country belittled customers, sexually harassed female customers, and illegally shared customer information at the chatting room.

In particular, they shared customers’ nude photos that they illegally obtained from the laptops brought in for repair. They despised customers who displeased them with rude behavior. They called picky female customers "pig-like XXXXs" and "orc-like XXXXs” and used disparaging expressions for elderly customers.

The civic groups collected the messages that were posted in the chatting room from June 9 and July 2 this year. They said among the tens of chatting room participants, a dozen or so employees exchanged sexually harassing messages.

The civic groups called for punishment for the employees who violated the human rights of customers. They also urged the company to come up with measures to prevent the recurrence of similar cases.

Three civic groups, including the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Women's Association and the Daegu Consumer Group Association, held a news conference in front of E-Mart's Wolbae branch in Dalseo-gu, Daegu.

The allegations against the Electro Mart employees surfaced when an anonymous informer tipped the NGOs. "The informer reported the case to the E-Mart Customer Service Center, but the company did nothing about it. It did not bother to launch an investigation into the matter and collect evidence," the civic groups said.

"We cannot tolerate E-Mart that has dismissed this case as a private affair of the employees," they said.

"We are identifying the participants in the chat room. We will take action against them after finding out what they have done," an E-Mart official said. “If the allegations are found to be true, we will punish them at the company level.”

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