The organizing committee for an international beauty pageant held in Korea earlier this month said Thursday that it is checking into allegations that some sponsors asked contestants for sexual favors.
The allegations were made by one of the more than 70 beauty queens present for the Miss Asia Pacific World Competition and carried by a British newspaper. The contestant claimed organizers sexually assaulted her and demanded favors to secure votes. The 15-day-long contest was held in three cities in the country with the winner picked on Oct. 15.
British beauty queen Amy Willerton, who made the allegations, also claimed that she saw pageant officials openly bribing local police who had been called to investigate the complaints.
"The organizing committee is looking into the matter," said Lawrence Choi, who was the promoter of the event. He told Yonhap News Agency that complaints were raised about the poor management of the pageant at one of the venues.
He, however, claimed that complaints about requests for sexual favors may have been due to misunderstanding caused by "cultural differences" between the young contestants and some elderly organizers in their 60s and 70s.
Choi, who is head of the Elite Asia World Group, argued that organizers merely patted contestants on the back.
The Miss Asia Pacific World organizers, however, said that three of the contestants left during the event with some asking for monetary compensation.
The official, in addition, said that speculation that police were bribed was not true.
Related to initial police investigation, the Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency said that officers only received business cards from the organizers, and were told that the matter would be handled after the contestants returned home.
"One plaintiff said that she was groped by organizers, but she told the officers that she planned to handle this matter after consultations with international lawyers in her own country," a spokesperson said, adding that the agency plans to ask the British press to correct their stories concerning the bribery allegations. (Yonhap)