Seoul City to Prioritize Victims and Ensure Swift Handling of Sexual Violence Cases

Seoul City Special Committee on Eradicating Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Announces 'Sexual Harassment Eradication' Improvement Plan
Eliminates Sleeping Rooms in Mayor's Office and Establishes 'Secretary Field Work Guidelines'
Customized Gender Sensitivity Special Training for Mayor and Senior Officials at Grade 3 and Above

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided that when the mayor is involved in sexual harassment or sexual violence incidents, the investigation will be immediately entrusted to external agencies such as the police or the National Human Rights Commission. Additionally, when sexual harassment or sexual violence incidents occur internally, the investigation and disciplinary actions will be promptly completed within 3 to 4 months.

On the afternoon of the 10th, Kim Eun-sil, co-chair of the "Seoul Metropolitan Government Special Committee for the Eradication of Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment" (professor at Ewha Womans University), held a briefing at Seoul City Hall and announced the "Seoul Metropolitan Government Special Committee for the Eradication of Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment." This is a measure released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government five months after former Mayor Park Won-soon was accused of sexually harassing his secretary and passed away. The committee consists of 15 members, including 9 external experts from women's organizations, academia, and lawyers, and 6 internal members.

The committee first restructured procedures in the institutional domain to ensure that sexual harassment and sexual violence cases are handled swiftly with a victim-centered approach. Previously, the handling of workplace sexual harassment and sexual violence cases in Seoul was divided among four departments (Women's Rights Division, Human Rights Division, Investigation Division, and Personnel Department), resulting in a problem where the final disciplinary action took from as short as 8 months up to about a year.

Going forward, the reporting channel will be unified under the Women's Rights Division of the Women and Family Policy Office, which will handle everything from reporting to disciplinary action and consistently support victims until they return to their daily lives. When an incident occurs, the Women's Rights Division and the Investigation Division will form a consultative body to conduct the investigation, and based on this, the "Seoul Metropolitan Government Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Grievance Deliberation Committee" will determine whether sexual harassment occurred. The Audit Committee will request disciplinary action without re-investigation, and the Personnel Committee will prioritize the case over other matters, enabling disciplinary decisions to be made swiftly within 3 to 4 months.

Additionally, a rights investigator with relevant field experience will be separately hired, and more than half of the members of the Grievance Deliberation Committee will be external experts to ensure the independence of investigations and decisions.

In particular, sexual harassment and sexual violence cases involving heads of local governments will be institutionalized to be investigated and handled through separate external procedures. Upon recognizing an incident, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will immediately notify the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's "Dedicated Reporting Channel for Heads of Institutions." Depending on the case details, the police will investigate or the National Human Rights Commission will conduct an inquiry. The committee also plans to propose to relevant ministries that legal requirements and procedures for job suspension be established when reports involving heads of local governments are received.

To enhance trust in case handling, case examples and final disciplinary results will be disclosed semiannually, with information processed to prevent identification of perpetrators and victims to avoid secondary damage. Furthermore, disciplinary regulations for secondary perpetrators will be clearly defined in the "Public Officials Disciplinary Rules," and procedures for handling secondary damage will be operated identically to those for sexual harassment and sexual violence cases.

As a measure to improve organizational culture, the nap room within the mayor’s office will be removed, and a "Secretary Work Guidelines" will be established to clarify the public work areas of secretarial duties. Also, mayor’s secretariat staff will be selected through the same voluntary transfer procedures as general employees, and gender-equal personnel placement and work assignments will be arranged.

The committee will also conduct regular annual surveys on awareness of gender discrimination and sexual harassment and continuously improve hierarchical and paternalistic organizational culture through gender sensitivity diagnostics and consulting.

In particular, the mayor’s office and senior managers at grade 3 or above will enhance their communication skills for recognizing power dynamics and fostering a gender-equal organizational culture through customized special training on their roles when incidents occur.

Based on the committee’s announcement, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will establish and implement a detailed action plan and will additionally incorporate recommendations from the National Human Rights Commission’s ex officio investigation results in the future.

Kim Eun-sil, co-chair of the committee, said, "Workplace sexual harassment is not a private matter between individuals but a structural issue within the organization related to labor rights violations. Therefore, measures should not stop at punishing perpetrators but must continue efforts to change structures and culture."

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