S. Korean left-wing party chief sacked for sexual harassment
SEOUL: The head of a left-wing South Korean political party that has championed gender equality was sacked Monday for sexually harassing one of his own MPs, a prominent rights campaigner.
Kim Jong-Cheol was chairman of the Justice Party, which with six representatives is the third-largest in the South Korean parliament, and was stripped of his position after admitting harassing Jang Hye-yeong, the party said in a statement.
He is the latest male politician to be brought down by an abuse case in the socially conservative and traditionally patriarchal country, where victims have long faced pressure to remain silent.
Jang, 33, was elected last year and is among South Korea’s youngest MPs.
She is known for her human rights activism and drew up an anti-discrimination bill last year that would ban favouritism based on sex, race, age, sexual orientation, disability or religion, but has yet to be put to a vote.
The incident happened following a dinner last month, and the party mounted an investigation after Jang reported it three days later.
“This is blatant sexual harassment without a doubt,” deputy leader Bae Bok-ju told reporters.
“Kim, the perpetrator, has also acknowledged all allegations.”
South Korea remains maledominated despite its economic and technological advances, and sexual abuse victims often face stigma, discouraging them from coming forward. But the country has seen a widespread #MeToo movement in the last few years, sparked by a prosecutor who publicly accused a superior of groping her at a funeral.
In a statement Jang said the incident gave her “an enormous sense of shock and suffering”, involving “someone I deeply trusted as a political ally and with whom I campaigned together against sex crimes”.