By Park Si-soo
Police are investigating claims that the chief executive of South Korea’s major fried chicken franchise sexually harassed a female employee. Hosigi Chairman Choi Ho-sig denies the allegations.
According to Gangnam Police Station, Choi, 64, a female employee in her 20s, claims Choi molested her at a hotel after drinking alcohol together in Gangnam, southern Seoul, Saturday.
Video footage obtained by cable news channel YTN shows the woman running from a hotel to a taxi with Choi following, trying to stop her. Further details remain unknown.
The woman told police Choi persuaded her to go to a hotel room together, but Choi claims there was “no physical contact at all” and that they checked into the room because the woman had a hangover.
Choi launched the fried chicken brand named after him in 1999. The business is now one of South Korea’s biggest fried chicken franchises, with the innovative marketing policy of giving two serves of chicken for the price of one.
The company opened its 1,000th domestic stores last August, and opened its first Japanese store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in November 2015.
Netizens have reacted to the woman’s claims with anger and hostility, launching an online campaign to boycott the brand.