Prosecutors: "Women's Group Leaked Park Won-soon's Accusation"...No Indictment for Government, Prosecutors, and Police Officials (Comprehensive)

Prosecutors Conclude Sexual Harassment Allegation Against Park Won-soon Leaked by Women's Group
Leak Passed from Women's Group → Lawmaker → Gender Special Advisor Im Sun-young → Former Mayor Park
Cheong Wa Dae, Prosecutors, and Police Officials' Complaint Not Prosecuted
Leak Involved Also Deemed Difficult to Charge

On the 13th, a press conference titled "Power Sexual Harassment Case by the Mayor of Seoul" is being held at the Korea Women's Hotline in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] The prosecution has concluded that the fact of the accusation against the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon was conveyed to him through women's organizations in connection with the suspicion of leaking the accusation. Those initially identified as the leakers were judged to be not guilty.

On the 30th, the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office announced that it had decided not to prosecute Blue House, prosecution, and police officials who were accused of leaking the fact of the sexual harassment accusation against former Mayor Park.

Earlier in August, Halbindan and the Lawyers' Association for Human Rights and Unification of Korea filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office against three officials of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, including Chief Prosecutor Lee Sung-yoon, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Wook-jun of the 4th Division, and Chief Prosecutor Yoo Hyun-jung of the Women's and Children's Crime Investigation Department, on charges of leaking official secrets. The Legal Rights Center also filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in the same month against Blue House and police officials on charges including leaking official secrets. Five complaints, including this case, were initially assigned to the Criminal Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office but were later transferred to the Northern District Prosecutors' Office.

After analyzing phone call records of the related parties, the prosecution found no evidence that they leaked information related to the accusation and decided not to prosecute. Since starting the investigation, the prosecution checked call records and other data from 26 mobile phones belonging to 23 related individuals, including former Mayor Park. They also investigated about 50 people, including the accused, Seoul city officials, and journalists, and conducted digital forensics on two mobile phones used by former Mayor Park and former Special Advisor Lim to verify contents.

On the 13th, at the Korea Women's Hotline in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, Kim Jae-ryeon, the lead attorney of Law Firm On·Sesang, revealed the secret chat room invitation message sent by Mayor Park Won-soon to complainant A during the press conference on the "Power Sexual Harassment Case by the Seoul Mayor." Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

The fact of the sexual harassment accusation against former Mayor Park was found to have been conveyed to him through a women's organization official, passing through a member of the National Assembly and former Seoul City Gender Special Advisor Lim Soon-young. According to the prosecution, lawyer Kim Jae-ryeon, who represents the victim of former Mayor Park's sexual harassment, informed a women's organization official on July 7 that they planned to file a complaint against former Mayor Park. This information was passed to two other women's organization officials and then to Assemblyman A. Assemblyman A, having received this information, reportedly asked former Special Advisor Lim whether there was any unsavory matter related to former Mayor Park, according to the prosecution.

At that time, after finishing a call with Assemblyman A, former Special Advisor Lim contacted the women's organization official who first received the information but did not get a specific answer. He then heard from another women's organization official, who had received the information in the middle, that lawyer Kim was in contact with the women's organization. Later, he met with former Mayor Park privately and asked, "There are rumors of unsavory stories related to you, do you know anything about it?" Former Mayor Park reportedly replied, "There is nothing like that," according to the investigation.

Later that night, former Special Advisor Lim met former Mayor Park at the official residence and explained the situation. Former Mayor Park then said again, "There are text messages exchanged with the victim before April, and if this is raised as an issue, it could be problematic." However, the prosecution believes that neither former Special Advisor Lim nor former Mayor Park knew that the victim had actually submitted a complaint to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and had been interviewed on the same day. The prosecution also found that former Mayor Park searched the internet for information related to poison and articles about himself before taking his own life.

On the 12th, one day before the funeral of the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, visitors continued to pay their respects at the Seoul City Hall civic memorial altar. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

The prosecution also judged that the women's organization officials who leaked the accusation could not be charged with leaking official secrets or other charges. The prosecution held a criminal case disclosure review committee the day before and decided to disclose the investigation results considering that the case had already been widely reported in the media.

Earlier, the victim of former Mayor Park filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on July 8, accusing former Mayor Park of sexual assault and other charges. Former Mayor Park left the official residence the next morning and lost contact. On the 10th, at 12:01 a.m., his body was found in a forest near Sukjeongmun in Bukaksan Mountain. This led to suspicions that former Mayor Park had learned about the accusation in advance and took extreme measures, raising concerns about the leak of the accusation.

Meanwhile, the police announced the day before that they had closed the investigation into the sexual assault accusation against former Mayor Park with no prosecution due to lack of evidence. They also said that seven people, including the Deputy Mayor of Seoul and former and current secretaries, were sent to the prosecution without charges due to insufficient evidence regarding allegations of aiding the sexual assault.

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