"Despite Allegations of Sexual Harassment Against Late Mayor Park" ... Seoul City Lacks Victim Protection and Support Measures

Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Announces Results of On-Site Inspection in Seoul... Demands Measures to Prevent Recurrence

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 Reporter Jo In-kyung] Regarding the sexual harassment allegations against the late Park Won-soon, former Mayor of Seoul, it has been revealed that the Seoul Metropolitan Government has yet to establish protection measures for the victim, a former secretary, and that improvements are needed in the sexual violence case handling procedures and grievance handling system.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced on the 30th the results of an on-site inspection conducted on the 28th and 29th targeting Seoul City regarding measures to prevent sexual harassment and sexual violence.

As a result of the inspection, it was confirmed that Seoul City has not yet prepared specific protection and support plans related to the victim of the sexual harassment allegations against former Mayor Park.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family proposed that Seoul City promptly establish a victim protection and support plan that includes guaranteeing the victim's anonymity, victim grievance counseling, designation of assistants to prevent secondary damage, and measures to prevent disadvantages in personnel matters.

The Ministry also judged that although Seoul City issued official notices twice to all employees warning against secondary damage, more proactive measures are necessary. They requested Seoul City to provide employee education on the definition and types of secondary damage, establish procedures and handling methods for reporting secondary damage including personnel disadvantage treatment, and prepare disciplinary standards for perpetrators of secondary damage, expressing a continuous commitment to a zero-tolerance policy.

Seoul City's sexual harassment and sexual violence grievance handling system was found to have complicated procedures for victim protection, investigation, and disciplinary action, with disciplinary measures against perpetrators taking a long time. Additionally, the large number of people and departments involved in the case handling process raises concerns about secondary damage due to information leakage, and there are limitations in comprehensively implementing victim protection measures.

The Ministry pointed out that approximately 70% of counselors responsible for sexual harassment grievance counseling in 2018 and 2019 did not receive work-related training, which is expected to limit victim protection and case handling, emphasizing the need to strengthen expertise through prompt counselor education.

It was identified that sexual harassment prevention education for high-ranking officials in Seoul City has been conducted as large-scale group lectures without distinction of rank. The Ministry suggested conducting customized special education for high-ranking officials to raise awareness of power dynamics and gender sensitivity, and improving communication methods within the organization according to generational and gender differences.

During this inspection, the Ministry reviewed the receipt and processing status of grievance deliberation committees, grievance counseling reception status over the past three years, and the handling status of the Citizens' Human Rights Violation Relief Committee since 2013. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with Seoul City personnel managers, grievance counseling staff, union-recommended employees, and employees in their 20s and 30s.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family demanded that Seoul City establish and submit measures to prevent recurrence related to the issues pointed out in this on-site inspection. Furthermore, plans are in place to announce improvement measures such as handling plans for local government heads' cases and enhancing the effectiveness of violence prevention education through expert meetings, forums with employees in their 20s and 30s, and the Women's Violence Prevention Committee.

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