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'My dog is more expensive than you': Woman fined $1,000 for insulting parking attendant

Published: 05 Nov. 2025, 13:43 Updated: 05 Nov. 2025, 20:12

The Changwon District Court in South Gyeongsang is seen in this 2023 file photo. [YONHAP]

A district court on Wednesday fined a woman 1.5 million won ($1,040) for telling a parking attendant that her dog was worth more than the worker.

The Changwon District Court convicted the woman of insulting a parking attendant in an underground parking lot in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang, in July 2024.

Prosecutors said the woman told the worker, “Will you compensate me if my dog dies? My dog is more expensive than you,” after the attendant asked her to turn off her car engine while it was idling.

The remark was made in front of another attendant and several customers.

The court said the woman’s words humiliated the older attendant by comparing her to an animal and “placing a monetary value on human dignity.”

The dispute escalated after the worker, angered by the comment, grabbed the woman’s wrist. The woman’s boyfriend then tried to drive away, but the attendant blocked the car and pulled at his clothes several times. The boyfriend responded by grabbing the worker’s wrist and pushing her upper body, the court ruling said.

The court also fined the parking attendant 1.5 million won for initiating physical contact and fined the woman's boyfriend 700,000 won, noting that the attendant had obstructed the car and provoked the confrontation.

The court said the woman showed little remorse, noting that “she focused more on blaming the victim than on reflecting on her own wrongdoing.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]