Former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, South Korea, died after sexual harassment of secretary in 2020

 The case began on July 12, 2020, when former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon was accused of sexual misconduct by his former secretary. However, due to Park's subsequent death, the case was closed with a non-prosecution decision under Article 69 of the Prosecutors' Office Act, ending the investigation. As of December 29, 2020, the case remains closed with a non-prosecution decision.

The case is still under investigation for the second victim who reported the incident, and the police have expressed their intention to conduct a thorough investigation. The police have also stated that they will investigate the alleged complicity of the Seoul Metropolitan Government to the extent permitted by law.The results of the investigation have not yet been announced as to whether the first victim has been harmed.

The forensic examination of Park's cell phone, which contained incriminating evidence, was temporarily blocked by Park's family during this process. However, following the dismissal of the appeal by the court on December 9, 2020, the forensic examination resumed on December 18, 2020, and was completed on December 23, 2020. However, the investigation was limited to the cause of death.

On January 14, 2021, in the trial of Park's former secretary, Chung Mo, who was charged with attempted sexual assault, the jury found that Park had sent him sexually explicit text messages and photos of her in her underwear that included comments such as "I want to smell you," "You have a good body," "Send me a picture," "I don't know about men," "I need to know about men to get married," and "I will teach you sex." The tribunal emphasized that it was clear that Mr. Park's sexual harassment caused the victim significant mental distress.

However, the tribunal noted that Mr. Park did not directly admit to physically touching the victim, and that some media described the sexual messages sent by Mr. Park as "sexual harassment messages," which does not meet the generally accepted definition of sexual harassment.On January 25, 2021, the National Human Rights Commission concluded that Mr. Park's conduct towards the victim constituted sexual harassment.

On November 15, 2022, the Seoul Administrative Court confirmed the Human Rights Commission's decision that Park had sexually harassed his secretary. Park, who had previously served as the victim's lawyer in the 1993 Woo Joguk molestation case, ironically became a defendant on July 8, 2020, one day before his disappearance. The plaintiff claimed that Park had been sending him multiple lewd photos via Telegram since 2017, asking for pictures and touching him in his office bedroom.

She also submitted transcripts of her Messenger conversations with Park as evidence, and claimed that there were other victims. However, SBS reported that Park denied the allegations at a press conference and denied mentioning any other victims. Initially, Seoul officials dismissed the allegations as baseless.

However, as the facts continued to emerge, they backed down, stating that they could not confirm specific accusations. Eventually, authorities confirmed that the plaintiff had filed a complaint on July 8, but did not inform Park of the allegations because the investigation was still ongoing. "The report would have been forwarded to the Blue House through the National Police Agency, and Mayor Park would have been informed of the facts," said a source. On the night the complaint was finalized, Mayor Park, a leading candidate for a third term as mayor of Seoul, chose to take his own life rather than face public outcry and legal sanctions for his actions. The case was eventually closed without further investigation because the accused was dead and his suicide note did not clearly explain his motive for committing the crime. 

On July 16, 2020, the complainant disclosed additional cases of victimization. The specifics included: going to karaoke at every dinner party, rubbing shoulders with him, kissing him while pretending to be drunk, unilaterally kissing and groping him in a taxi while offering to take him home, and touching his legs while pretending to walk on the floor. In particular, the complainant revealed that a Seoul Metropolitan Government official had asked the complainant to play a role such as a "planting assistant" or "joy jo" in advance. 

However, the article did not clarify whether the additional incidents of harassment were related to Mayor Park Won-soon, who was also accused of harassment by the complainant. On July 17, a person came forward claiming that Park sent intimate photos via mobile messenger while working as a project participant for an outside contractor at an event organized by the city in 2018.

On July 20, Kim Chang-ryong, a candidate for national police chief, said that sexual misconduct cases cannot be prosecuted due to lack of legal jurisdiction, and that even if investigated under a special law, it would be difficult to uncover the truth. However, he emphasized that he would thoroughly investigate accomplices within the boundaries of the law. On July 21, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said they could not investigate the case themselves, but would look into all relevant matters that might require a compulsory investigation to determine the facts.

On December 24, the Kyunghyang Shinmun published a partial transcript of the conversation. In response, Professor Kim Min-woong said, "I'm not asking for damages. I applied for a department transfer because of the 'pain' that has been going on for four years, and I'm not sure how to take the two conflicting claims of 'I want to go on a business trip abroad together'." On December 29, police announced that they would not charge Park with sexual harassment due to a lack of evidence, and they also decided not to charge the city with aiding and abetting sexual harassment. 

A forensic examination of the phone found no evidence of wrongdoing, and no city employees were charged due to lack of evidence. However, secondary charges were filed, including charges against the person who leaked the complaint, charges against the author of the malicious comments, and charges against the party who named the third-party victim. The person who leaked the victim's real name is currently under investigation. 

On December 30, the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office released the forensic results of Park's whereabouts. According to prosecutors, Park denied having anything untoward with the victim in a conversation with security guards on July 8, but in a late-night interview the same day, he changed his story, saying that a text message he sent to the victim in April was problematic. The next day, on July 9, at 9 a.m., Park spoke with her chief of staff, Ko Han-seok, and said, "If the sexual harassment complaint is reported in the media, I will resign as mayor and handle it," but after the conversation, she disappeared, saying, "It will be difficult for me to overcome this wave alone," and "It's too much for me to handle all this alone."

While the trial for the deceased, who passed away on January 14, 2021, has yet to be held, the first trial was held for Mr. Chung Mo, a defendant in another sexual assault case in the secretary's office. The court heard that Mr. Park admitted to sending obscene messages and underwear photos, and made sexually harassing comments such as "I don't know anything about men," "I need to know a man to get married," "I want to smell him," and "I will teach you about sex." 

Based on the victim's hospital consultation records and treatment history since May last year, the court noted that "the victim suffered considerable mental distress due to Mayor Park's sexual harassment." However, the court also found that the defendant, Mr. Jung Mo, was more directly responsible for the victim's mental distress. The victim's lawyer, Kim Jae-ryun, said, "The victim sued Mayor Park, but lost the opportunity to appeal due to his death. However, it is somewhat comforting that the tribunal in the sexual assault case of Mr. Chung made some judgment on the damage suffered by the victim." On January 25, 2021, the NHRC determined that one of Mayor Park's actions constituted sexual harassment under the National Human Rights Commission Act and recommended improvements to protect victims and prevent recurrence to Seoul and other relevant agencies. On March 12, 2021, the 59-page decision of the National Human Rights Commission was made public. In the decision, only three cases of sexual harassment were recognized, while the other four claims were not.

According to the NHRC's decision, Park admitted to sending (1) a selfie photo in a running shirt, (2) touching the victim's nails and hands, and (3) sending an emoji that highlighted the woman's breasts. On the other hand, the sexual text messages, such as ④unwanted contact asking to take a selfie, ⑤knees on the knee, ⑥requesting a hug, and ⑦describing sex on Telegram and offering to tell her about sex, were deemed inadmissible because there were no witnesses to prove them and the contents of the conversations were not forensically recovered. 

Nevertheless, the Human Rights Commission found that Mayor Park's actions constituted acts that sexually degraded his subordinates and caused them sexual shame and disgust. It recognized only the touching of the victim's hands with her fingernails and nail art as physical contact.

The victim's lawyer, Kim Jae-ryun, said, "When the victim watched Oh's election speech, she cried with her family, recalling the hard times she went through." The victim plans to request an official meeting with Oh to discuss her return to work. On October 17, 2022, a portion of a Telegram conversation between Park and her secretary was released by lawyer Chung Chul-seung on his personal social media account, which included the secretary writing "I love you," sparking controversy in various media and communities.

Park's family denied the National Human Rights Commission's decision to find Park guilty of sexual misconduct and filed a lawsuit to reverse it. The decision was criticized by the women's community. The feminist organization Korea Women's Political Network issued a statement on November 29, saying, "Criticizing reporters for accepting the findings of the NHRC, which were corroborated by the victim's testimony, is an attempt to cover up the facts rather than revealing the truth."

On November 15, 2022, the Seoul Administrative Court found that Park had committed sexual misconduct and rejected the family's claims that the Human Rights Commission's decision was procedurally irregular or exceeded the scope of the trial. In an appeal filed by Park's wife, Kang Nan-hee, against the first-instance ruling that found Park guilty of sexual misconduct, she argued that "her husband is a victim who was falsely accused" and that "the deceased (Park Won-soon), who is a victim of sexual misconduct, is being portrayed as a perpetrator". "On July 9, 2020, Mayor Park Won-soon did not show up for work in the morning, citing deteriorating health, and canceled a meeting with National Balanced Development Commissioner Kim Sa-yul scheduled for the afternoon. He left the Seoul City Hall in Gahoe-dong, Jongno-gu, wearing a blue jacket over a white shirt, a blue cap, and a white mask, while carrying a backpack with the city brand 'I-SEOUL-U' on it. He was last seen at 10:53 a.m. on CCTV in Warong Park. According to the secondary briefing, he took a taxi from his home to the vicinity of Warong Park and then climbed up a hiking trail, where he was found dead.

He was reported missing at around 5 p.m. by Mayor Park Won-soon's daughter. Shortly after the report, Park's YouTube channel was hidden or deleted, and her Instagram account was set to private. As of July 7 on Facebook and July 8 on Twitter, there have been no updates since the last post. It is unclear whether Park herself managed the accounts or her aides did so privately.

Facebook and Twitter were confirmed to have been hidden by Park's aides after his body was found, but his YouTube channel and Instagram account were hidden when he was reported missing before his death was confirmed. It is unknown whether Park himself or his aides hid these accounts. On July 10, 2020, at 12:01 a.m., Park was found dead near the Sookmyungmun Korean Furniture Museum in Seongbuk-gu after a six-and-a-half-hour search. The cause of death is believed to be suicide.

At 3:30 a.m., police announced that there was no evidence of foul play that heavily skewed toward suicide. At 9 a.m., a civic memorial is set up in front of Seoul City Hall, according to a briefing by the acting mayor. As a form of state funeral, the funeral of Seoul's first mayor (1987) is held for five days, with the burial taking place on July 13. He is buried in his hometown of Seonsan, Jangma-myeon, Changnyeong-gun, Gyeongnam.