'I feel dead'

Park Hyun-chung, former CEO of Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO), poses before an interview. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Park Hyun-jung talks about struggle with maestro Chung

By Oh Young-jin

Park Hyun-jung, former CEO of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, can’t but think that the past year-and-a-half counts for the worst nightmare of her 54-year life.

Late in 2014, Park, a Harvard Ph.D. in sociology, was forced to endure accusations by her own employees of sexually harassing one employee and bullying many of them habitually. The media made a big issue of it and she resigned without a chance of having her side of the story heard.

“It was like having the letter A branded on my forehead,” she said in a recent interview. “If there is something that is deader than death as we know, I have experienced it.”

In a bizarre twist of events, police cleared her of the accusations. Now the tables are turned with the accusers becoming the accused for conspiring to frame her. The case is now pending at the prosecution for arraignment on defamation.

So did this exoneration lift Park’s feelings?

“No,” said the first woman to reach a senior executive position in Samsung Group.

Her bigger fight has just begun.

She believes that Chung Myung-whun, former SPO music director, is behind the conspiracy aimed at burying her socially. Now the two have filed complaints for defamation against each other.

Chung was just called in for questioning by the prosecution and the police over the defamation case in addition to another complaint brought by an NGO for embezzling more than 100 million won from SPO funds.

In and out of being questioned, Chung first said to the effect that he felt betrayed by the employees, whom he trusted when they accused Park. Then, his lawyers denied it and Chung later got back to his original position ― Park violated the human rights of the SPO employees. He also denied allegations of misappropriation.

Seeing Chung being interrogated, Park said that she had mixed feelings but that she doesn’t feel any sympathy for him.

“The ones who harmed me are going about their business as usual,” she said, adding that she is determined to see the case through.

“You don’t even imagine how hard it has been to stay angry for such a long period of time. It’s not just about Chung but also about myself,” she said.

Up until the police’s exoneration, she couldn’t log onto the Internet for fear that she would stumble upon stories about her. “There were thousands of articles about me, all starting with my name along with the accusations of sexual harassment.” The irony is that she was the first to bring to Korea corporate education programs from the United States against sexual harassment when she worked for Samsung.

She doesn’t feel as traumatized now when she checks the news about her. “Many of the articles are slugged as a smear case against Park.”

That was no consolation for her. She has been unemployed since she quit SPO and there have been few job offers for her. Her name card bears her name, her mobile number and her having a sociology doctorate but without a job title. “Who would hire me now after that big a brouhaha?”

Chung Myung-whun, former SPO music director, raises his hands in a quirky act of surprise after being questioned by prosecutors in the defamation case brought against him by ex-SPO CEO Park Hyun-jung last week. / Yonhap

Her being jobless, however, has helped her concentrate on one thing ― how to debunk what is presented as the true color of Chung. “I am preparing for my case to be presented to the prosecution every day, all day,” she said, explaining that she has one lawyer while a big law firm works for Chung, the leader of his legal team being a senior prosecutor who recently retired from the department of technology-related affairs where the Park case is being investigated. The assignment to that department is because the accusations of Park’s sexual harassment were disseminated through the Internet.

“The ongoing scandals over the prosecutors’ misbehavior ― a corrupt food chain that is sustained by money and linked by their sense of belonging ― worries me,” she said, pointing things out about the background for Chung’s lead lawyer.

But she was confident not by the outlook of her case against Chung but by sheer determination.

“I am determined but I never knew I could be this strong-willed,” she said.

She compared her situation with the winnowing process ― separating the chaff from the wheat. “If I hold out long enough, the real issue ― Chung ― will come out in the open and face public judgment.” She said that the police had restored Chung’s secretary’s mobile text messages that showed how deep Chung’s connections have reached.

“Until he is in court and receives punishment, I will wake up every morning and work on my case,” she added.

Her two-year-stint at the SPO allowed her to get a peek into our society that she didn’t know about. “It was a kingdom for one person,” she said. “The king and his queen do whatever they want. Everybody is expected to follow.”

She remembered that she had to go through Chung’s secretary and his wife before she was given a time slot and a number to call just to talk with him.

Then she came into Chung’s kingdom and tried to bring it to the 21st century. The result was a clash of cultures.

“In one sentence, our society says all is equal before the law and calls for the abolition of privileges,” she said. “In the next, it takes pity on Chung, the privileged person, and suggests he be spared public embarrassment for that,” she said. “That is a conflicting narrative, making me wonder what overwhelming odds really powerless people fight against.”

The writer is The Korea Times’s chief editorial writer. Contact him at foolsdie5@ktimes.com and foolsdie@gmail.com. This column was based on two interviews with Park Hyun-jung, former CEO of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Tuesday and two months ago. For fairness, we are open to comments and a request for an interview by Chung Myung-whun, the former SPO music director.