Overseas Missions' 'Sexual Misconduct' Directed by Headquarters from the Start... Ministry of Foreign Affairs Revises Guidelines to Establish 'Zero Tolerance for Perpetrators' Principle

Effective from January next year... Lowest personnel rating assigned to sexual misconduct perpetrators
Grievance Committee members increased from 6 to 8... External experts expanded from 3 to 5

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 8th that it plans to fully revise and amend the guidelines for the prevention and handling of sexual harassment and sexual violence (Ministry of Foreign Affairs directive) to strongly respond to sexual misconduct, and will implement them starting January 1 next year.

The revised guidelines include ▲separately establishing sexual misconduct guidelines for overseas diplomatic missions ▲centralizing the handling of sexual misconduct cases at headquarters ▲institutionalizing a zero-tolerance principle for perpetrators ▲significantly strengthening sexual misconduct prevention education for all employees.

According to the guidelines, the Ministry will separately establish sexual misconduct guidelines applicable to overseas diplomatic missions to fundamentally eliminate blind spots in handling sexual misconduct cases, while strengthening the responsibilities of heads of overseas missions and imposing strict accountability for violations.

Additionally, the Ministry will require immediate reporting to headquarters upon receipt of sexual misconduct cases at overseas missions to completely block independent judgment and handling by the missions from the initial response stage, and plans to implement victim protection principles quickly and systematically under headquarters’ command. In particular, upon case receipt, perpetrators will be physically separated from victims according to the victims’ wishes to prevent secondary harm, and victims will be protected throughout the entire case handling process while perpetrators will be barred from involvement regardless of rank or status. Detailed forms will be prepared to record statements from victims and perpetrators at each stage of case handling, standardizing the collection and management of related materials.

Furthermore, separate from strict disciplinary actions against sexual misconduct perpetrators, the zero-tolerance principle will be more strictly applied by mandating the assignment of the lowest personnel rating for the year in both performance grades and personnel grades, which form the basis of public service career management. Previously, the lowest rating was only assigned in performance grades upon disciplinary action for sexual misconduct.

To this end, the Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Grievance Committee will be expanded from six to eight members, increasing external experts such as legal professionals from three to five. Moreover, the frequency and duration of sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention education for all headquarters and overseas mission staff will be increased fourfold.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "The Ministry will use this improvement of the sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention and handling guidelines as an opportunity to strongly enforce strict measures under the zero-tolerance principle against sexual misconduct."

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