By Lee Kyung-min
Former South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung, accused of raping his secretary, cancelled his planned press conference Thursday, after another sexual misconduct allegation against him surfaced Wednesday night. An called off the press conference just two hours before it was scheduled to take place, a move widely seen as an attempt to avoid questions about a second victim who spoke up against him. "I decided that it would be best for me to submit to prosecution questioning," An said via his aide. "I urge the prosecution to summon me as soon as possible so that I can tell everything to the prosecutors myself."
The abrupt decision came amid increasing public anger against An as a second victim made a similar allegation on nationally televised news on JTBC late Wednesday, only two hours after he said he would make clarifications about an earlier allegation made by former aide Kim Ji-eun, late Monday.
The alleged second victim, whose identity is being withheld, said she was raped and sexually harassed on seven occasions over two years while she worked for An, the then-head of a policy think-tank in Mapo, Seoul. She said An first touched her body at an after-work get-together in October 2015 and he raped her at a hotel in Seoul last January, which were among seven sexual assaults he made against her. She said she was unable to reject his sexual advances due to his powerful position in politics.
Her comments were similar to an earlier statement made by Kim who said An raped her on four occasions over the past eight months. Kim, who had been serving as his public relations manager in the lead up to the presidential election last year, became his political affairs secretary after he failed to win the presidential race. Kim, who continued to refer to An as "governor," instead of "perpetrator" or "assaulter" during the interview said she was unable to reject his advances, sexual or otherwise because she was in a position where she always had to say yes to him even when everybody else could say no. Kim said the incident was the result of abuse of power, as she was not in an equal position to An, denying his claim that the sexual relations were consensual.
Kim said she decided to come forward as An tried to rape her Feb. 25, when the #MeToo movement was increasingly gaining public support, a month after woman prosecutor, Seo Ji-hyun, publicly alleged that she was groped by then-senior justice ministry official, Ahn Tae-geun, at a funeral eight years ago. An, Kim said, apologized to her asking whether she was okay, which she considered meaningless as he again tried to rape her later in the day.
Investigators with the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office began an investigation into the case following a complaint filed by Kim late Tuesday. A four-member team under the district office searched an apartment studio in Mapo, where Kim said she was raped, to secure surveillance video footage on the day the alleged incident occurred. The team will also review whether An abused the office of the South Chungcheong Province Governorship to sexually assault her, as she alleged. The team said, however, it has not yet begun an investigation into the claim raised by the second victim.
Meanwhile, a group of unidentified men moved about ten boxes containing documents out of the office of the think-tank in Mapo early in the morning, drawing suspicion that An sought to destroy evidence ahead of the full-blown investigation. An official at the think-tank reportedly said moving the documents had no bearing on the investigation.
The South Chungcheong Province Government accepted An's resignation, tendered hours after the broadcast aired. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) expelled him and permanently removed him from party membership, Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the government unveiled strengthened anti-sex crime measures to impose harsher punishment on those who engage in sexual misconduct by abusing power against workers of lower rank. Under the revised law, those who abuse power to commit rape will be subject to a prison term of up to ten years and a fine of up to 50 million won ($46,700), far harsher than the status quo _ a prison term of up to five years or a fine of up to 15 million won. Those who abuse their power to grab or fondle a subordinate will be subject to a prison term of up to five years or a fine of up to 30 million won _ more harsh than the current punishment of a two-year prison term or a 5 million won fine.
The statute of limitations for such offenses will be also extended to ten years from the current seven for rape, and seven to current five for grabbing or fondling, respectively.
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