Government legislation ministry says discipline can follow drunk cycling fines

The government legislation ministry said that public officials who operate bicycles or personal mobility devices while intoxicated can still face disciplinary action after paying traffic fines.

It found that a disciplinary committee may act in a first-offense case with no personal injury or property damage, even after the official paid the traffic fine. The ministry said the disciplinary rules contain no exemption for an official who has paid a traffic fine.

Under the rules, committees must consider the type and severity of misconduct, the degree of negligence, an official's rank and work history, effects inside and outside public service, conduct, achievements and remorse when deciding a case. The ministry said traffic fines penalize past legal violations, whereas public-service discipline maintains internal order. Because the measures have different purposes, subjects and legal bases, paying a fine does not remove the basis for a disciplinary decision, it said. It added that sanctions imposed under the specified standards ordinarily would not be considered markedly unreasonable under social norms unless special circumstances show those standards lack rationality.

Traffic rules set a 100,000 won fine for operating a personal mobility device while intoxicated, compared with 30,000 won for a bicycle. For a first offense involving either, disciplinary standards allow sanctions from a reprimand to a pay reduction.

Before the Dec. 11, 2024, revision, drunken operation of bicycles and personal mobility devices was not separated from motor-vehicle drunk driving, so the same disciplinary standards applied. "Misconduct by public officials, including drug crimes, must be addressed firmly, but some excessive standards have been reasonably adjusted," Yeon Won-jeong, minister of personnel management, said. The amendment created a separate disciplinary scale for bicycle and personal mobility-device drunk-driving cases that tracks road-traffic law penalties.