The judgment below is reversed and the case is remanded to Seoul High Court.

The grounds of appeal are examined.

1. The term “official disease” under Article 61(1) of the former Public Officials Pension Act (amended by Act No. 13387, Jun. 22, 2015) refers to a disease caused by official duty during the performance of official duties. As such, there should be causation between the occurrence of the disease and official duty, and the causal relationship should be attested by the party asserting it.

However, the causal relationship is not necessarily required to be proved clearly in medical or natural science, and if there is a proximate causal relationship from the normative point of view, there is a proof.

If a public official dies due to a suicide, there is a proximate causal relationship between the public official and the death in the event that the disease occurs due to the official duty, or the overwork or stress overlaps with the main cause of the disease, resulting in the outbreak or aggravation of the disease, and that such disease is likely to cause suicide in a situation where the normal perception ability, the ability to choose an act, or the ability to restrain mentally, is lacking or significantly lowered, making a reasonable judgment impossible.

In addition, in order to recognize such proximate causal relationship, comprehensive consideration should be given to the degree of disease or aftermath of the person who committed the suicide, the general symptoms of the disease, the period of medical care, the possibility of recovery, age, physical and psychological situation, the surrounding circumstances of the person who committed the suicide, and the circumstances leading

(see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2011Du32898, Jun. 11, 2015). 2. Reviewing the reasoning of the lower judgment and the evidence duly admitted by the lower court reveals the following. A.

On November 11, 1994, the Plaintiff’s husband B (hereinafter referred to as “the deceased”) was appointed as the local fire fighter on July 11, 1994, and the duties of the Pohang-do fire fighting chief, D Fire Fighting School (hereinafter referred to as “instant fire fighting school”) mainly started.