'Gap-Eul relationship', these words were originally legal terms that refered to a regular sequence. At first, it meant in regular sequence, but, now 'gap' means a person with more power and 'eul' means one with less power, like the relationship between subordinates and superiors or the relation between majority and minority.

Gapjil is a compound word:, adding 'jil' means an action about something related to a gap. In this case it means a higher-ranked person abusing people that are of lower standing. This emerged in Korea but is now starting to be used across the whole world.

The companies Korean Air and Hanjin are at the center of 'gapjil' in Korea, enacted by the rich. On April 12 this year, the news reported that Cho Hyun-min, and executive director, threw a cup of water and raised her voice at an employee in an advertising agency. According to Korean Air's position, the news had shown something wrong and they apologized to the victims after the affair. Cho Hyun-a, a vice-president of Korean Air, resigned her position because of the 'peanut fly back' affair in 2014.

In addition, Hanwha Group's third son Kim Dong-sun attacked two employees and damaged a part of a police car whilst in a state of intoxication. Chun Il-sun, son of Hyundai Group chairman, and CEO of Hyundai BNG Steel, had drivers who worked 56 hours a week for 3 years until 2017, and he attacked one of those drivers.

Last December, Lim Bum-jin, son of a Dujeong Group chairman, attacked and hurled abuse at a passenger and the aircrew on a flight, and spat at staff that restrained him. Richard Marx recorded this situation and posted it on his social network page, causing this affair to suffer global disgrace.

The punishment leverl of 'gapjil' situations is light in comparison with the damage to the victim's. In the case of Cho Hyun-a, during the first trial, she was sentenced to a year in prison, but after the second trial, she was sentenced to 10 months in prison with 2 years of probation and therefore to be released from prison.

Kim Dong-sun was sentenced to 2 years of probation, but he abused and attacked a lawyer while in a state of intoxication again within 6 months. Chung Il-sun, CEO of Hyundai BNG Steel, only paid a 3 million won fine in February 2017. Lim Bum-jun, son of a Dujeong Group chairman, was sentenced to 2 million-dollar fines in the Vietnamese court, which converted to 240,000 won in Korean money at the time. Once, this affair ended he then faced a lawsuit in Korea and was examined by the prosecution.

'Gapjil' in the Korean language was made into English language. From this, we can know that there are many wrongful acts in the 'gap-eul' relationships in Korea, however, the punishment is too light. The light punishment should be strengthened on par with their fame. Compensation for the victims will also have to be made accurately.

L.L.F reporter Seung-Hee Na