By Lee Hyo-sik

More than four out of every 10 salaried workers here were found to suffer sexual harassment while commuting to and from work, with the majority taking place on the subway.

In a survey of 828 salaried employees, conducted by online job portal Career, Tuesday, 42.5 percent said they experienced sexual harassment at least once on the subway and on other public transportation during rush hour. Of them, 79 percent were women.

Nearly 72 percent of the incidents occurred on subway cars, followed by buses at 27.3 percent and taxis at 1.1 percent. Nearly 60 percent said they experienced harassment between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. when most workers are on their way to work, while 17 percent were between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. while returning home from work.

About 61.9 percent said at the time of the sexual harassment, it was too crowded for them to move within the subway train or bus. In response to the harassment, 43.2 percent said they did nothing about it, and 25 percent moved to a different place. Only 18.2 percent strongly protested against the assailants and 6.3 percent shouted in anger.