Tag: sexual harassment

It looks like another member of the ROK military is about to go down for sexual harassment:

A Navy court on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for a senior chief petty officer suspected of having sexually harassed a female subordinate who was found dead in an apparent suicide earlier this week.

The issuance of the arrest warrant for the officer, whose identity was withheld, came after a pre-trial detention hearing held at the Navy’s general military court in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul. The suspect was immediately imprisoned at a detention facility of the Navy 2nd Fleet.

The victim, known only as a female chief petty officer, was found dead at her residence in Pyeongtaek on Thursday after reporting days earlier that she had suffered sexual harassment from the suspect in May.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this incident happened shortly before the ROK Air Force sexual harassment suicide case back in early June.

Note to senior leaders in the ROK military, the days of getting away with sexual harassment and other sex crimes is clearly over:

Military prosecutors indicted an Army general for alleged sexual molestation of a female subordinate, officials said Tuesday.

The brigadier general was accused of attempting physical contact with the female officer at a karaoke bar after a dinner with his subordinates in late June.

Upon a report by the victim, he was immediately relieved of his duties and arrested earlier this month.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is an update on the case of the ROK Air Force NCO who committed suicide after what the ROK media is calling sexual harassment by another NCO. However, the fact that she was groped and forced to touch the body parts of the other NCO is by the American definition actually sexual assault. What makes this incident even worse is that her parents said that one of the superiors pushing her to stop her complaint had harassed her as well in the past:

 An Air Force noncommissioned officer, who took her own life after being sexually harassed by a colleague, had suffered similar abuse twice before, a lawyer for her family said Thursday, as two of her superiors were relieved of duties for mishandling the latest case.

Public outrage strengthened amid growing suspicions that her unit attempted to cover up the crime. President Moon Jae-in ordered a thorough investigation and stern punishment of those responsible, saying his heart aches to think of how much despair the victim must have felt.

The two superiors — a warrant officer and a senior master sergeant — were accused of attempting to persuade the victim to reach a settlement with the suspect. One of them was even accused by her family of abusing the victim himself earlier. The suspect in the latest case, surnamed Jang, allegedly groped the victim and forced her to touch his body parts inside a car on their way to the base after a drinking session she was forced to attend in March.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but there is a severe lack of leadership going on with the unit the deceased NCO was in.

Apparently the ROK service member was pressured by colleagues to reach a settlement with her harasser before committing suicide:

An Air Force officer has died in an apparent suicide after being sexually harassed by a colleague, officials said Tuesday.

In March, the female master sergeant stationed in the central city of Seosan was sexually harassed by the man surnamed Jang inside a car on their way back to the base after a private gathering that she was forced to attend, according to the officials.

She then reported the case to the authorities the following day, but the military allegedly failed to take appropriate steps to protect the victim.

Jang, as well as his family members and senior officers, had instead tried to cover up the case and persuade her to drop the complaint, according to the bereaved family members.

After taking two months off, she was transferred to another base by her application, but she was found dead at her residence inside the base late last month.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This should be no surprise that the police dropped an announcement in the middle of the holiday period hoping fewer people would notice that the investigation into Park Won-soon was closed:

Women’s rights groups are furious over the police’s decision to close the investigation on sexual misconduct allegations against late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon without reaching a clear conclusion.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on Tuesday that it has ended the months-long investigation, and the case will be transferred to the prosecution with non-indictment recommendations. Under the current laws, the police have no power to recommend indictment when the accused is dead. 

A coalition of women’s rights groups issued a statement immediately after, criticizing the authorities for failing to conduct an active and fair investigation and not disclosing to the public new facts found over the past few months. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Yet former President Park was confined before her trial for something far less serious than what this mayor is accused of and in the case of the sexual assault already admitted to doing:

Oh, who was elected in 2018 as a member of the ruling Democratic Party, stepped down as Busan mayor in April after admitting during a live press conference he had sexually assaulted a City Hall employee in his office.  
   
Earlier this week, prosecutors filed a second arrest warrant for Oh after the first request was turned down in June. Prosecutors said they had found new evidence Oh had inappropriate contact with another woman by touching her chin, and attempting to touch other areas of her body on multiple occasions in November and December 2018.    
   
Oh admitted in April to the sexual assault that led to his resignation. At his court hearing Friday, he admitted to the additional assaults, saying “the words of the women are all correct.” The ex-mayor added he did not remember the incidents, but that he apologizes for them.  
   
The presiding judge of the Busan District Court who reviewed Oh’s warrant hearing said there was no reason to put him under pretrial detention as he has accepted the charges and does not pose a flight risk. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this is why the Moon administration had to suspend the Prosecutor General, to assist his political cronies.

You can read more at the link, but President Moon is likely betting that the majority of the Korean media will continue to cover for the ruling party’s sexual misconduct scandals:

Questions are rising over why President Moon Jae-in is not making any mention of a series of sexual harassment scandals involving star politicians of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

His silence on the issue is considered unusual, given that he had pledged to be a “feminist President,” and has underscored the need for supporting and empowering women and put a special emphasis on raising the proportion of female leaders in his Cabinet and the presidential office.

There was an expectation that Moon, during Monday’s meeting with senior aides, would mention the death of former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and the allegations that he sexually abused his secretary ― a case that has made headlines in the local media since Park was found dead in an apparent suicide, July 10.

But Moon failed to mention anything related to the Park scandal. The President has also distanced himself from the sexual violence scandals of other DPK heavyweights, such as former South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung and former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don. Both politicians stepped down from office due to #MeToo allegations from women who worked closely with them.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It seems the ruling Democratic Party in Korea is just hoping that the sexual misconduct allegations against Mayor Park Won-soon will just go away with his death:

On the funeral day of late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on Monday, the main opposition party launched what is likely to become an all-out campaign to press for a probe into allegations that the deceased sexually harassed his former secretary.

The pressure by the United Future Party (UFP) highlights deepening political division over the death of the late Seoul mayor.

Park was found dead at a mountain in Seoul after apparently taking his own life on Thursday. He was facing a criminal complaint on sexual harassment, filed by his former secretary.

With Park’s death, the police were to close the case against him in his absence, but opposition lawmakers are increasing calls to get to the bottom of the allegations raised against the three-term mayor who was a lawyer defending human rights and women’s rights. (……)

“I believe the DP, having been more proactive than anyone in the past ‘#MeToo’ wave, would doubtlessly join the efforts to find the truth,” he said, calling for a probe into the case.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if this is the end of the #metoo movement in South Korea? The movement pretty much ended in the U.S. once the #metoo people went after Joe Biden. Could the same thing happen in South Korea?

I guess we will see how far the ubiquitous Korean defense of “I was drunk” works for this Mongolian judge:

A high-ranking Mongolian official accused of groping a South Korean flight attendant last week appears to have backed down from his initial denial of charges during his latest questioning, police said Thursday.

Dorj Odbayar, the chairman of Mongolia’s Constitutional Court, is alleged to have touched the buttocks of a female flight attendant and intimidated a Mongolian crew member on a Korean Air flight from Ulaanbaatar to Incheon, west of Seoul, on late Oct. 31. 

During an interrogation by airport police last Friday, he flatly denied the charges, saying he was mistaken for another Mongolian man, who actually committed the crime. He left the country immediately after the probe. 

Odbayar returned to South Korea on Wednesday and was detained for a second questioning by the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency. 

He testified that he did not remember what happened because he was drunk at the time of the incident, according to the Incheon police.

“If the victims made such claims, (I) might have done so under the influence of alcohol,” Odbayar was quoted as saying during the nine-hour interrogation. He was released at midnight. 

He had planned to depart for Mongolia in two days, but the authorities had already banned him from leaving the country for 10 days pending the probe. 

Police also requested Interpol put on its wanted list a Mongolian official accompanying him, who has been accused of molesting another stewardess, including wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.