Late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's Sexual Harassment Allegations, Heading into a Dead End...

Difficulty Forming City Joint Investigation Team... Women's Groups Uncooperative in Participation
Police Only Claim "No Prosecution Rights"... Slow Summons of Seoul City Involved Parties
Concerns That Direct Prosecution Investigation May Disadvantage Ruling Party

The 6th floor of Seoul City Hall, where the mayor's office, secretariat, and political appointee offices are located, is quiet on the 17th. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy reporters Jo In-kyung, Kim Hyung-min, Song Seung-yoon] Even ten days after the death of the late Park Won-soon, former mayor of Seoul, the investigation into the related facts has been progressing slowly. This is because not only the parties involved but also the Seoul Metropolitan Government, prosecution, police, and women's organizations are passing the responsibility to each other or maintaining a passive attitude.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 20th, even after the city announced on the 17th that it would form a joint investigation team composed entirely of external experts to investigate the sexual harassment allegations against former Mayor Park, organizations such as the Korean Sexual Violence Counseling Center and the Korean Women's Hotline have not expressed their intention to participate in the investigation team through expert recommendations. A city official explained, "We sent official letters requesting participation in the investigation team to women's organizations three times by the 19th and even visited them directly, but we have not yet received any significant response."

It is known that the women's organizations believe the city lacks the will to properly investigate this incident and that the joint investigation team, which has no investigative authority, has limitations in fact-finding. They are demanding a police investigation, stating, "The National Police Agency should preserve evidence on the 6th floor of Seoul City Hall and secure investigation materials."

The city plans to continue requesting the participation of women's organizations that support the victim in the investigation team, as the victim's voice is considered the most important for fact-finding. However, due to the effective refusal of participation by women's organizations, the fact-finding efforts centered on the Seoul Metropolitan Government appear to be facing difficulties.

The police have formed a task force (TF) with a large number of personnel related to the investigation of former Mayor Park, but investigations into key figures such as Im Soon-young, the gender special advisor, have not proceeded smoothly. Im has been delaying the summons citing personal reasons, and since he is not a suspect under criminal charges, it is difficult for the police to forcibly conduct the investigation. So far, the police have only summoned and investigated former Secretary to the Mayor Ko Han-seok and two Seoul city officials.

Meanwhile, police investigations are proceeding in three major directions: the investigation into the circumstances of former Mayor Park's death, the sexual harassment allegations, and the investigation into allegations of aiding and abetting sexual harassment by Seoul city officials. First, with the death of the accused former Mayor Park, the sexual harassment-related investigation is effectively concluded. The police plan to close the case as 'no prosecution' and are coordinating the timing of transferring the case. It is expected to be transferred as early as this week, but the police are unlikely to transfer the case on the day of the confirmation hearing for Kim Chang-ryong, the nominated Commissioner of the National Police Agency.

The police also plan to investigate all possibilities regarding the case in which the Garosero Research Institute accused Seoul city officials of aiding and abetting sexual harassment. However, many view that this part of the investigation will remain at the level of fact verification. The key issue is whether aiding or condoning charges can be applied given that former Mayor Park is already deceased.

The prosecution, which should investigate the allegations of leaking the fact of the complaint, assigned five related complaints to the Criminal Division 2 (Chief Prosecutor Lee Chang-soo) on the 17th. The prosecution can either investigate the cases related to former Mayor Park directly or hand them over to the police and only supervise, but the legal community currently sees a higher possibility of direct investigation by the prosecution since the police are included among the accused. However, there are already concerns about whether a proper fact-finding will be conducted on this matter, which could be disadvantageous to the ruling party if the prosecution takes direct action.

This is because the prosecution has appeared to somewhat slow down investigations into allegations involving current government figures, such as the Lime fund redemption suspension scandal and the cases involving Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang and the Justice Memory Foundation. In contrast, it has actively pursued investigations into the 'media-prosecution collusion' allegations, creating a stark contrast. In particular, the fact that Lee Sung-yoon, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, is seen as a 'pro-government figure' while standing at odds with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in investigations such as the media-prosecution collusion case contributes to these perceptions.

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