Missing mayor found dead after police hunt

THE missing mayor of South Korea’s capital, who was reportedly embroiled in sexual harassment allegations, has been found dead. Park Won-soon’s body was discovered after he sent his daughter a will-like message, police said.

The 64-year-old’s remains were located near a restaurant in wooded hills in northern Seoul, more than seven hours after the search was launched.

Park’s daughter called police yesterday afternoon and said her father had given her a “will-like” verbal message in the morning before leaving home.

She did not explain the contents of the message, an officer at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said.

Police said they mobilised about 600 police and fire officers, drones and tracking dogs to search for Park in the hills, where his mobile phone signal was last detected.

They said the phone was turned off when they tried to call him.

Kim Ji-hyeong, a Seoul

Metropolitan Government official, said Park did not show up for work yesterday for unspecified reasons and had cancelled all of his schedule, including a meeting with a presidential official at his Seoul City Hall office.

The Seoul-based SBS television network reported one of Park’s secretaries lodged a complaint with police on Wednesday night over alleged sexual harassment, such as unwanted physical contact, that began in 2017. The SBS report said the secretary told police investigators that an unspecified number of other female employees at Seoul City Hall had suffered similar sexual harassment by Park.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and Park’s office said they could not confirm the report.