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Park Won-soon, who was found dead on a single mountain in the capital on Thursday, is so far South Korea’s most famous politician in a sexual harassment complaint.
South Korea is highly patriarchal, but the #MeToo movement has already ousted dozens of famous men in various fields.
Park Won-soon issued a general apology in a handwritten farewell letter found at his official residence and published by city authorities.
“Sorry, everyone. I thank everyone who has been with me in my life,” he wrote. The mayor also asked that his remains be cremated and the ashes spilled on his parents’ graves.
Scanpix / AP Photo / Park Won Zone
“I apologize to my family, who only hurt me,” Park Won-soon wrote, but did not mention the allegations against him.
Park Won-soon, a leading figure in the ruling center’s left-wing Democratic party, ruled South Korea’s vast capital, home to nearly a fifth of the country’s population, for nearly a decade.
Promoting gender and social equality, she won three elections and made no secret of her ambition to replace current President Moon Jae-in in 2022.
He died the day after a secretary who had previously worked in his office filed a complaint against the mayor 64 years ago for sexual harassment and participated in a police interrogation.
According to the former employee, after work, the mayor sent her “personalities with only underwear and lewd comments” in an application.
According to a document called a statement by a Park Won-soon victim, who has worked as her personal secretary since 2015, she experienced “sexual harassment and inappropriate gestures” “at work,” including the requirement to hug him in the room next to his office.
According to the former employee, after work, the mayor sent her “personalities with only underwear and lewd comments” in an application.
“With great fear and humiliation, I made it clear that it was all in the interest of Seoul, myself and Mayor Park,” he wrote in the document.
Police acknowledged receipt of the complaint but declined to confirm the details.
Park Won-soon’s death means the investigation will automatically end.
Despite economic and technological advances, South Korean society remains male-dominated, but for the past two years there has been an active #MeToo movement in the country, sparked by a prosecutor who publicly accused one of the bosses of stealing it during a funeral.
Among the accused is a former provincial governor who ran for the presidency in 2017. Last year, he was jailed for sexually abusing the government after his aide stated that he had repeatedly raped her.
Park Won-soon is the country’s leading politician who committed suicide after the suicide of former President Roh Moo-hyun in 2009 after questioning him about corruption allegations involving family members.
Reuters / Scanpix Photo / South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun (right) with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
From prison to courtroom
Park Won-soon was a student activist during the South Korean military dictatorship, jailed for attending a rally against then-President Park Chung-hee, and later became a human rights lawyer.
He defended many political activists and reached the first sexual harassment conviction in South Korea in the 1990s.
He helped found the influential non-governmental organization People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, which called for reform of the country’s dominant conglomerates.
Park Won-soon also founded the Beautiful Foundation philanthropic group, which promotes volunteering and community work.
It has become one of the largest non-profit organizations in South Korea and has established a charity chain, Beautiful Stores, similar to British Oxfam stores.
The reaction to his death on Friday was mixed: There is sympathy and criticism that he committed suicide to escape punishment. The mayor’s defenders cry, some of them crying at Seoul National University Hospital, where the remains were brought.
“Mero Parks, you were a great politician,” says an ad on the country’s second largest portal, Daum.
Others were more critical of the deceased and accused him of harassing his subordinates in the exercise of their power and then committing suicide to “avoid consequences.”
“The victim had to go through a painful time before filing a complaint,” wrote one consumer. “I hope the Park reflects on his crimes and expiations in his afterlife.”
Citizens will be able to honor the memory of the mayor at the altar that will be erected in front of the Seoul City Hall.
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