Strand of hair holds DNA match

Evidence shows foreign ministry official molested female subordinate

By Jung Min-ho

A DNA test has confirmed allegations that a director-level official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sexually harassed a subordinate during an official overseas trip in February, police said Thursday.

An official at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) told The Korea Times that the National Forensic Service confirmed a DNA match between the suspect and a strand of hair obtained from a bed sheet she slept on at a guesthouse in Kenya.

“We believe he sexually harassed her,” an SMPA official said. “Some media outlets reported that he raped her. But that is not true.”

The man is in his 40s and the woman is in her 20s, police said. The rest of their personal information is being withheld.

Police plan to send the case to the prosecution as early as this week with a recommendation that the man be charged for sexual harassment.

Before falling asleep in her single guesthouse room, the victim drank with other ministry officials, including the suspect, on the last evening of their five-day trip.

She said that she felt someone take her clothes off and touch her body, but could not tell who it was because she was highly intoxicated at the time.

To find out who he was, she took the bed sheet with her when she returned to Korea.

In early March, she filed a complaint with the ministry and reported the incident to police. She also submitted the bed sheet as evidence.

Police said the suspect has denied the allegations. The ministry, however, suspended him from duty after an internal probe.

In addition to criminal punishment, an official said the ministry will punish the man separately.

“We take the case seriously,” the official said. “We will take stern action after a fair, thorough investigation and according to our zero-tolerance policy.”

To prevent sex crimes, the official said, the ministry held a special session on March 19 with experts and relevant agencies. Also, he said it set up a “hotline” on April 6 for sex crime victims.

This is the latest sex crime to put the ministry in the spotlight, and few believe it will be the last one.

According to data obtained by Rep. Yoo Ihn-tae from the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, there were five sex crimes or scandals reported in 2012.

Yet many believe the real number is far more, given the ministry’s culture of strict hierarchy makes it difficult for lower-ranking female officials to stand up against senior perpetrators.

The ministry says it conducts regular sex education lessons for its officials, but the efficacy of this is unclear because it is difficult to collect information about envoys working all over the world, let alone reliable stats about their crimes.

In 2012, Consul General Lee Dae-hee in Auckland, New Zealand, was removed from his post for harassing three female diplomats in a karaoke room in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital.

In the same year, another diplomat was brought back to Korea over allegations that he sexually harassed a female college professor in Bangkok. She claimed the diplomat had touched her thigh in a car and at a coffee shop.

“The Shanghai Scandal” is perhaps the most famous incident, in which three Korean diplomats were suspected of having affairs with the same Chinese woman, who allegedly collected confidential information from them.