Seoul city to form committee to examine workplace culture

The Seoul city government on Monday announced plans to form a committee to look into its work culture, which has been partly blamed for a high-profile sexual harassment case involving a late mayor and a former secretary.

In July, a public servant who worked as a mayoral secretary filed a complaint with the police, accusing ex-Mayor Park Won-soon of sexually harassing her over several years. In the process, she claimed that her calls for help to around 20 colleagues went unanswered.

Park, meanwhile, was found dead in an apparent suicide on a Seoul mountain two days after the complaint was filed. He left a note saying “sorry” to everyone but did not elaborate on the sexual harassment case.

Under the plan announced Monday, the city government said it will organize a 15-member committee of city officials and outside experts. Acting Mayor Seo Jeong-hyup and Kim Eun-sil, a gender studies professor at Ewha Womans University, will co-chair the panel.

Also included on the panel are female representatives of the city government’s union as well as Lee Eun-eui, a former Samsung employee-turned-lawyer who took on the giant conglomerate for sexual harassment in 2005.

The panel will focus on finding measures to help the victim return to work and prevent further victimization. It will also attempt to find ways to create a more gender-equal workplace by educating employees and improving work customs that can be discriminatory, according to the city government.

“The (city government) has tried to prepare measures and programs to prevent sexual violence. But we’ve found there were still areas that remain in a blind spot,” said Song Da-young, who oversees the city’s women-and family-related policies.