'Female secretary's main role was to make mayor happy'

Kim Jae-ryun, center, the lawyer for the former secretary of the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon who accused him of sexual harassment, speaks during a press conference in Seoul, Monday.

By Jun Ji-hye

A secretary who accused Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon of sexual harassment has claimed she made repeated requests to be transferred to another department, but the late mayor denied her requests and continued his harassing behavior, according to civic groups representing the woman.

The victim was allegedly forced to do things unrelated to work for years, such as taking the mayor's blood pressure. Then, the mayor made inappropriate remarks such as “My blood pressure is high because you took it,” according to the Korea Women's Hot Line and Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center that raised further sexual harassment allegations against the former mayor on the behalf of the victim, Thursday.

Park, a former civic activist, human rights lawyer and three-term Seoul mayor, was found dead on Mount Bugak in Seoul at 12:01 a.m. on July 10, after the former secretary went to police to file a sexual harassment complaint against him, July 8.

No more details about his death are known yet, but many have suggested he committed suicide out of mounting personal pressure following the complaint.

During a news conference, Monday, Kim Jae-ryun, the lawyer for the secretary, claimed Park had touched the victim multiple times and had sent her inappropriate messages via Telegram over the past four years.

The victim had asked to be transferred to another department every six months since January 2016, but the mayor consistently rejected her requests, according to the civic groups.

She was finally able to transfer to a different post in July last year.

The groups said not only the victim in this case, but also other female secretaries were told their primary role was to “make the mayor happy,” noting that the Seoul Metropolitan Government evaluated secretaries accordingly.

“In common sense, making the mayor happy is beyond the work of secretaries and requires inappropriate gender roles. This has virtually created an atmosphere in which sexual harassment occurs frequently,” the groups said in a statement.

The groups cited some examples, such as the mayor asking a secretary to participate in a weekend marathon with him, saying he set a good pace whenever running with a “female.”

Secretaries were also asked to bring underwear to the mayor when he took showers at his office, the groups added.

On Wednesday, the city government vowed to set up an independent investigative team consisting of city officials, civic group representatives and legal experts, to look into the sexual harassment allegations.

But the civic groups expressed skepticism regarding the plan, calling for the police to continue their investigation and collect evidence before it is too late.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Northern District Court rejected a police request, Friday, to acquire the call history for three mobile phones used by the late mayor to help them look into details surrounding the cause of his death.

The court said there was “a lack of explanation for a mandatory probe” in this case.