State-run think tank chief resigns over sexual abuse claims

By Yi Whan-woo

The chief of a security think tank under the wing of the Ministry of Unification resigned abruptly over allegations of sexual harassment, officials said Friday.

They said Son Gi-woong, the president of Korea Institute for National Unification, tendered his resignation, Thursday, after investigators from the Prime Ministers’ Secretariat questioned him.

He took office in March last year for a three-year term as the institute’s 15th president.

“We’ve been informed of allegations of sexual harassment recently and that he was asked to quit during the investigation,” an official said. “We still don’t know why he quit.”

Son reportedly said he “has so much to say” about his resignation, but refused to comment any further.

He was named to lead the institute shortly after President Park Geun-hye was ousted from office on May 10.

The institute was established in the 1990s to work on unification policies.