'Female Intern Sexual Harassment' Former Special Advisor Yang Hyang-ja Sentenced to 1 Year Imprisonment

A (53), who served as a special advisor to Yang Hyang-ja, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is seen entering the Gwangju District Court on the morning of July 13 to attend a pre-arrest detention hearing (warrant review). / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The former special aide to National Assembly member Yang Hyang-ja, who was accused of sexually harassing a female colleague, has been sentenced to prison.

On the morning of the 12th, Judge Park Sang-hyun of the Gwangju District Court Criminal Division 4 sentenced A (53), a special aide at the regional office who was detained and indicted on charges of forcible sexual harassment using work-related authority, to one year in prison.

He was also ordered to complete 40 hours of sexual violence treatment programs and to work for two years each at welfare facilities related to children, adolescents, and persons with disabilities.

A is accused of sexually harassing a female colleague for several months while working as an aide at the regional office after Yang was elected.

A is a relative of Representative Yang and was excluded from duties after suspicions about this case arose.

Judge Park stated, "He confessed in court and the degree of harassment was mild," but added, "He exercised substantial influence over personnel matters such as the hiring of the victim and repeatedly harassed young interns, which reflects poorly on the nature of the crime."

The judge also said, "There were many instances of harassment, and it appears the victim experienced considerable sexual humiliation," and "He proposed several unrelated overnight trips, causing significant harm to the victim's work life."

He further explained the sentencing by saying, "Not only was he not forgiven by the victim, but even though it was unintentional, secondary damage occurred during the media coverage of this case."

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