By Lee Kyung-min
Police said Friday they will seek a warrant to detain a dentistry professor at Seoul National University (SNU) over allegations that he sexually harassed one of his female graduate students.
If detained, he will be the second SNU professor to be taken into custody for sex abuse allegations in two months after Kang Seok-jin, a math professor who is now on trial on charges of abusing more than 20 students over a 10 year period.
The dentistry professor, whose identity was withheld, has been investigated by Seocho Police Station in southern Seoul since November last year, police said.
Officers said that he had groped the graduate student many times, since January last year.
The professor kissed her on the cheek multiple times while she resisted near Gangnam Station in southern Seoul in November. The student filed a complaint with police a day after the incident.
Police said he has admitted to the student’s accusations.
“He said he did not mean to offend the student. We are checking whether there are other victims,” an officer from Seocho said.
The SNU Human Rights Center is also conducting its own investigation. It said it will release a formal report on the case next week and ask school authorities to punish the professor.
“The university will determine the degree of the punishment following internal deliberations,” an official from the center said.
On Tuesday, the center submitted a report on Professor Kang with a recommendation of harsh punishment.
“As soon as the disciplinary committee reaches a decision on a level of punishment, the university will move forward with the decision,” a public relations official from SNU said.
So far, abusers have dodged punishment by tendering their resignations to the university. If the university accepts them, any internal probe is halted and they are guaranteed severance pay, a pension, and a clean record to seek new teaching jobs.