The ruling Saenuri Party accused the main opposition party of trying to conceal an incident involving the molestation of a female reporter by one of its officials.

In a briefing Rep. Shin Yee-jin, a Saenuri spokeswoman, said a Democratic United Party (DUP) staff director molested a reporter in a taxi cab early last month.

She said that the female reporter complained to both her company and the DUP but both tried to keep the incident from becoming public.

"The DUP should take steps to tackle its culture of belittling women and implement measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future," Shin said.

In response, Yun Ho-jung, the opposition party's secretary general, told Yonhap News Agency that a disciplinary committee was convened and it led to the dismissal of the party member on July 31.

Others in the party said that there was not a concerted effort to hide the incident, since the DUP respected the female reporter's request to take action against the offender.

Both Saenuri and the DUP did not release the names of the female reporter, her news organization or the staff director.

The latest incident comes at a inopportune time for the opposition party, which has come under intense attack from Saenuri and numerous women's rights groups for calling a leading presidential contender a derogatory name.

Lee Jong-kul, a lawmaker for the DUP, said in a Twitter posting that Saenuri's Rep. Park Geun-hye was a "bitch" for not making a public apology for the money-for-nomination scandal involving several of its members.

He has since expressed regret for his remarks but Lee and the opposition party have been attacked for not taking firm action to deal with incident. (Yonhap)