Yoon Chang-jung, who was sacked as President Park Geun-hye's spokesman during her U.S. trip last week, called a press conference Saturday morning at a convention center in northern Seoul to deny allegations of molesting an embassy intern, Chosun Ilbo said in a column.
Every criminal has the right to defend himself, and the presumption of innocence should prevail. But listening to the tawdry 30 minutes of Yoon’s prepared speech on national television was apt to make viewers feel slightly queasy.
First of all, it took Yoon eight-and-a-half minutes before he even mentioned the charge of sexual abuse. He referred to the intern hired by the Korean Embassy in Washington D.C. to assist him as a "female guide" and spent the first four-and-a-half minutes of his perorations telling the country how he had to criticize her "several times" because she was unable to do her job properly.
Men accused of sexual offenses often blame the victim, but that does not make it any more savory having to listen to an influential public figure like Yoon accusing a 21-year old of incompetence to get himself out of a fix.
During presidential visits to the U.S., the Korean Embassy there often hires interns from the Washington area, drawing from a pool of Korean-American or Korean students there. Competition for the placements is often stiff because they look good on their resume.
Molestation apart, it was wrong for Yoon to get drunk while assisting the president as her spokesman. Journalists spotted him returning to his hotel room at around 5 a.m. last Wednesday, apparently completely intoxicated.
But at the press conference, he claimed to have had a drink for just about half an hour on Tuesday evening. He also claimed he bought the intern a drink because he felt sorry for her after scolding a woman young enough to be his daughter for her incompetence.
Yoon then claimed he merely "tapped" her waist in a gesture of "consolation and encouragement" and proceeded to mutter something about being unfamiliar with American cultural norms.
Perhaps he is also unfamiliar with Korean cultural norms, where it is rare for a man in his 50s to tap a woman in her 20s on the waist to console her.
Yoon concluded with the classic argument that he is "not the kind of person" who could have done the things of which he stands accused, and sealed his affirmation with several oaths on his name and honor.
Unsurprisingly, the performance was met with jeers from the assembled press.