Mongolian judge banned from leaving Korea

Dorj Odbayar, head of Mongolia's Constitutional Court, leaves the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, Thursday, after being questioned over allegations that he groped a Korean flight attendant during a flight from Ulaanbaatar to Incheon, Oct. 31. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

The chairman of the Mongolian Constitutional Court has been barred from leaving Korea for 10 days as police expand their investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed a flight attendant on a Korean Air flight.

According to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, Thursday, Dorj Odbayar was questioned for nine hours Wednesday, following his return to Korea from an international conference in Bali, Indonesia.

He planned to leave the country Friday, but the police, with the cooperation of the prosecution and the justice ministry, had in advance decided to place the 10-day travel ban on Odbayar for further questioning.

“It took longer than expected due to translation issues,” a police officer at the agency said.

Odbayar is accused of groping a flight attendant's buttocks on a flight from Ulaanbaatar to Incheon, Oct. 31, and he was questioned for an hour-and-a-half the following day before transferring to Bali. He promised he would return to Korea for the transfer back to his homeland, and upon his arrival at Incheon International Airport, Wednesday morning, he was taken to the police agency for a second round of questioning.

During the interrogation, Odbayar said he could not remember if he grabbed the cabin crewmember's buttocks because he was drunk, according to the police.

“We cannot go into details about the ongoing probe, but are considering additionally charging him with violating the Aviation Security Act,” the officer said.

Meanwhile, police have asked Interpol to issue a wanted notice for one of Odbayar's colleagues, who is also accused of sexually harassing another cabin crewmember on the flight. The two were reported to the airport police upon arrival, but the police mistakenly released them without questioning in response to the Mongolian Embassy in Korea's claim that they had diplomatic immunity ― which Korea's foreign ministry later denied.

Police then questioned Odbayar, but could not question the other man as he had already left for Singapore.