"Women Are Flowers" 'Forced Molestation' Oh Keo-don, Past Behavior Under Scrutiny

At a press conference held at Busan City Hall on the 23rd, Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don admitted to the sexual harassment and expressed his intention to resign. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] On the 23rd, the apology letter of former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don, who admitted to sexual harassment and resigned simultaneously, became embroiled in controversy. Expressions in Mayor Oh's apology letter such as 'regardless of severity' and 'brief meeting' are being criticized for trivializing the criminal act.

On the 24th, Seok Young-mi, head of the Busan Women's Organizations Coalition, who appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' said, "Regarding the process of sexual violence perpetration, terms like 'brief meeting' and 'regardless of severity' were used," adding, "This pattern clearly trivializes the criminal act. Also, the expression of taking responsibility as if bearing excessive blame compared to the wrongdoing was used."

She continued, "The meeting may have lasted 5 minutes, but for that woman, it could have felt as long as 5 hours or a lifetime," and "The perspectives of the perpetrator and the victim are starkly different, and attempts to drastically minimize one's actions like this are typical strategies of power-based sexual crime perpetrators," she pointed out.

On the 23rd, a statement condemning power-based sexual crimes related to the sexual harassment controversy involving Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don was posted on the Busan Women's Organizations Federation Facebook account. Photo by Busan Women's Organizations Federation Facebook capture.

Representative Seok condemned that, considering former Mayor Oh's past behavior, this controversy was already predictable.

She claimed, "From the beginning of his term, former Mayor Oh had controversies due to low sensitivity. Early in his term, he sat female workers on both sides during company dinners, and he appointed a writer who caused controversy by sexualizing female adolescents as the CEO of a Busan city-affiliated institution."

She added, "In July last year, during the Women's Week commemorative event, there were remarks showing extremely low gender sensitivity that are hard to believe a local government head would make in an official setting, such as referring to female organization members as flowers and questioning the need for bouquets when there were already bouquets present."

She continued, "Busan City must immediately establish a dedicated organization for sexual harassment and sexual violence, and then set up a permanent Gender Equality Committee," emphasizing, "Secondary victimization must be blocked, and victims should be actively protected and supported to recover their daily lives."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.