"Chanel Korea Female Employees Silently Endured 10 Years of Sexual Harassment"

Chanel Korea "Under Investigation... Appropriate Measures Will Be Taken"

Chanel logo. Photo by Chanel.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-ju] Amid allegations that a 40-year-old executive at Chanel Korea has been habitually sexually harassing female employees for over 10 years, an employee who identified herself as "one of the victims" has revealed detailed information.

Victim A, who said she worked at Chanel Korea for about 10 years, appeared on CBS Radio's "Kim Hyun-jung's News Show" on the 25th and claimed, "There was repeated sexual harassment over 10 years," adding, "It happened so casually that I didn't even count the number of times."

According to A, many employees have suffered multiple incidents from executive B, who is suspected of sexual harassment, but have not come forward.

A said, "There are more than 12 victims," and added, "(B) often put his arm around shoulders or hugged, but I often felt like he was fondling, and he touched the inside of my arm uncomfortably far."

She continued, "I also saw some employees being hugged from behind, and he touched underwear straps or the chest area, saying the name tag was crooked."

When the host asked, "Despite experiencing such things, was the perpetrator's power within the company so overwhelming that you had to endure it for 10 years?" A replied, "It's still like that now, so this is happening."

B was in charge of nationwide department store sales and wielded absolute power with personnel authority. Employees who reported the harassment faced hardships such as being transferred to undesirable locations.

Although there are more than 12 victims, everyone remains silent due to fear of personnel disadvantages and other repercussions.

A said, "In this company, you have to endure (sexual harassment) silently," adding, "The moment you speak about it here, you become a maladjusted person who cannot adapt to the company."

She added, "That person is stigmatized and ends up being rotated only through strange stores."

She went on, "Those who oppose the company are ostracized or subjected to workplace bullying," and "There are people who monitor that person's every move like a CCTV. They report to B every hour on what they ate, what they did, and what mistakes they made."

Regarding reporting to the police, she said, "We have to keep working here, but if we report it, we become the bad people, so we can't do it," adding, "Nothing has changed yet, so it's very frightening."

Chanel Korea stated that it will take appropriate measures after an internal investigation.

In a statement released that day, Chanel Korea said, "The accused was reassigned immediately after the report was received to avoid contact with store employees," and "The company will take appropriate action based on the investigation results as soon as the investigation into the report is completed."

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