#MeToo movement forces resignation of S. Korea's popular politician

By Lim Chang-won Posted : March 6, 2018, 10:34 Updated : March 6, 2018, 10:34

[Yonhap News Photo]


SEOUL -- A popular provincial governor who has been regarded as a potential presidential candidate of South Korea's ruling party offered to resign and suspend all of his political activities Tuesday after apologizing for sexually abusing his female secretary.

An Hee-jung, 54, said that he would step down as governor of the South Chungcheong Province after his secretary identified as Kim Ji-eun made a #MeToo revelation that she was forced to have sex with the governor four times over the past eight months.

He became the first politician to be ostracized in the "#MeToo" movement which has exposed a slew of allegations against prominent figures since a female prosecutor claimed last month that she was sexually harassed by a drunken senior prosecutor in  2010.

"I am really sorry for all of you," the governor wrote on Facebook, mentioning Kim's name. "I seek forgiveness for my foolish behavior. It's all my fault," he said, adding he would step down immediately and suspend his political activities. Police vowed to launch a criminal investigation.

The revelation shocked the ruling Democratic Party, which convened an emergency meeting to expel An who lost to South Korean President Moon Jae-in in a primary in May last year to pick the party's presidential candidate.

Moon has expressed his "strong" support for the #MeToo movement, calling for an active criminal investigation to eradicate sexual harassment. "Gender violence is an issue of social structural," he said, urging the victims of sexual abuse to reveal the truth.

There have been accusations against a dozen famous actors and others, including Ko Un, an 84-year-old poet respected as South Korea's iconic poet whose works were translated and published in dozens of countries with his name often mentioned as a Nobel Prize candidate. Female writers accused him of habitual sexual abuse.

Last week, Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong, who heads South Korea's Roman Catholic church, apologized after a priest was accused of attempting to rape a female follower during their stay in South Sudan for missionary work in 2011.

 
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