Former Wuhan Consul General Accused of Sexual Harassment... Court Rules "3-Month Suspension Justified"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] A court ruling has upheld the three-month suspension disciplinary action against Kim Young-geun, the former Consul General stationed in Wuhan, China, for making sexually harassing remarks in a public setting.

On the 5th, the Administrative Division 14 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-hoon) ruled on a lawsuit filed by former Consul General Kim against the Minister of Foreign Affairs, stating, "All of the plaintiff's claims are dismissed, and the plaintiff shall bear all litigation costs."

In 2019, former Consul General Kim received a three-month suspension disciplinary action from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Central Disciplinary Committee for making inappropriate remarks constituting sexual harassment during a luncheon hosted for the staff of the mission and the head of the KOTRA trade center. His remarks included, "Is there any woman you tried to touch but stopped?" and "We need to talk about women among ourselves to get the conversation going." Notably, after his remarks were reported in the media, Kim reportedly committed secondary harm by calling a female subordinate to ask who had recorded his statements.

In response, former Consul General Kim filed an appeal against the disciplinary action, which was dismissed. Subsequently, in November of the same year, he filed an administrative lawsuit claiming, "I did not intentionally commit sexual harassment, nor did I intend to cause secondary harm."

However, the court stated, "The disciplinary action cannot be seen as an abuse or deviation of discretionary power to the extent that it significantly loses validity according to social norms." It further pointed out, "As a senior official serving as a special mission head, the plaintiff has a duty to maintain a higher level of dignity than ordinary public officials, yet he made sexually harassing jokes."

Additionally, the court mentioned, "The media coverage damaged the public trust in all foreign service officials and tarnished the national prestige of the Republic of Korea in the host country," and added, "Having committed wrongdoing and caused secondary harm, it is difficult to expect the plaintiff to appropriately perform his duties as Consul General any longer."

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