Former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don Reported to Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for 'Interpreter' Sexual Harassment and Hiring Favoritism Allegations

On the morning of the 23rd, former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don is holding a resignation press conference at Busan City Hall. / Yonhap Photo [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] Former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don, who voluntarily resigned over a sexual harassment incident involving a female employee, has been reported to the prosecution on charges of sexually harassing another employee.

Notably, the report also includes allegations that former Mayor Oh arranged for the victim to be employed at another institution through a hiring request to cover up the sexual harassment.

According to the prosecution on the 28th, the civic group Saemin Minsaeng Countermeasure Committee (hereafter the Committee) filed a complaint on the 26th against former Mayor Oh at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for sexual harassment under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, abuse of authority, and obstruction of business.

The Committee also filed a complaint against Shin Won-chul, Chairman of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, for abuse of authority and obstruction of business.

Through the complaint, the Committee claimed that former Mayor Oh called Ms. A, who worked as an interpreter at Busan City Hall in early last year, into his official vehicle and sexually harassed her for five minutes.

When Ms. A tried to raise the issue of the sexual harassment, former Mayor Oh allegedly sought to cover it up by transferring her to the Seoul Metropolitan Council in exchange for a written pledge not to raise the issue, and then formally transferred her through a public announcement. The complaint states that during this process, former Mayor Oh made an illegal hiring request to Chairman Shin.

Regarding Chairman Shin, the Committee alleges that instead of encouraging confession after hearing former Mayor Oh’s situation, he condoned the concealment of the sexual crime and further abused his authority by participating in illegal hiring corruption.

Kim Soon-hwan, Secretary General of the Committee who prepared the complaint, said, “During the investigation into hiring corruption at the Seoul Metropolitan Council, the sexual harassment by former Mayor Oh was revealed,” adding, “It has been confirmed that the female employee left the Seoul Metropolitan Council and is now working again at a central government ministry.”

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency, which has been investigating the sexual harassment allegations against former Mayor Oh, formed a dedicated investigation team and officially launched an investigation the day before. Therefore, this complaint case is likely to be transferred to the Busan District Prosecutors' Office and directed to the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency’s dedicated investigation team handling former Mayor Oh’s sexual harassment charges.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Council has completely denied the related facts concerning the complaint.

A Seoul Metropolitan Council official stated, “The Seoul Metropolitan Council has no knowledge whatsoever about whether the employee mentioned in recent media reports is involved,” and “We have not received any contact from Busan City or others regarding this hiring.”

They further explained, “When we publicly recruited an international affairs specialist (Grade 7) last April, after a 10-day announcement period, an interview committee composed of two external members, including foreign language professors, was formed to interview 20 applicants, and one final candidate was selected.”

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