Left leader sacked over sex harassment

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

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — 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 MP, 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 MP.

She is known for her human rights activism and drew up an anti-discrimination bill last year that would ban favoritism 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.