Chung Mong-joon is being accused of sexual harassment for touching an MBC reporter’s cheek as she was asking him questions while he was walking along a street in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, with his wife on Wednesday. Said Chung:
“When I was about to turn to climb down the stairs, I thought I was listening to a female reporter, whom I had never seen before, ask my opinion on a new town construction project. I tried to pat her on the shoulder while asking that we not discuss it, but unintentionally my hand touched her face.”
In response to the accusation, Chung first issued a press release apologizing for the act. MBC demanded that Chung deliver the apology in person to the reporter and to MBC, which he did on Thursday. Chung is the Grand National Party’s candidate to represent Dongjak B district, running against United Democratic Party candidate Chung Dong-young, who was a former MBC news anchor before entering politics; opposition parties are calling on Chung to drop out of the race.
In a commentary, Kim Jae-doo, vice spokesman of the United Democratic Party, demanded the GNP expel Chung from the party. He called the lawmaker’s conduct especially “shameful” at a time when the nation is aggrieved over a recent string of child kidnappings and sex crimes.
Chung In-bong, legal adviser to the Liberty Forward Party, suggested a joint fact-finding team be organized among opposition parties. In a briefing, Lee Jeong-mi, spokeswoman of the Democratic Labor Party, demanded Chung drop out of the race and apologize to all the women and Korean people.
The man brushes a woman’s cheek and for that he needs to apologize to “all the (sic) women and the Korean people”? Ah, the politics of apologies.
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21 Comments
Mong Joon.
can someone explain what “wrong” he did?
Typo corrected. Thank you, Brendon.
Get ready for the KCNA to make a long editorial about the sexual corruption of the GNP in the south…
two. faced. bastards.
what about the 800 guys who raped the middle-school girl? They printed her name and none of the men!
He’ll still beat Chung Dong-young in Dongjak B. Maybe this is something that could happen in a bar after a few drinks, but on the street with his wife present? I’d normally be quick to suspect the worst from a politician in this kind of situation, but this really sounds accidental.
What makes this ridiculous is that his wife was there. Would you cop a feel if you are standing in front of reporters and your wife? He apologized to not make an issue of it. The reporter needs to be sued — and investigated for being part of a set up.
This is a thing of beauty. Installing a smear campaign, in broad daylight, in the plain view of his wife. Ham-fisted politicians, who use the half-witted media to do their bidding. Mental pigmies.
There is something a little strange about this. Why didn’t Chung apologize to the woman on the spot? That would have been normal for an unintentional touch, at least in the United States.
At the same time, I wonder if any Korean reporter has ever apologized for bumping into or grabbing a person by the arm while pushing forward like pigs to a feeding trough in their attempt to get a statement from that person.
I think the United Democratic and the Liberal Forward parties need to get their priorities in order.
My guess is that, as Kalani suggested, there was a crowd of jostling reporters, and either he didn’t realize what he had done at the time or he uttered a quick, verbal sorry that wasn’t good enough for the reporter. The reporter’s and MBC’s lame accusation of sexual harassment does sound fishy. I don’t think Korean voters of either sex will mistake this mole hill for a mountain.
Damn. First, no love shots, now this.
So they’re not challenging the guy’s story, but is still calling the incident sexual harassment? Either the lawmaker has gigantic balls worthy of malignant testicular cancer, having pulled that off in front of his wife, or it’s bullshit/overreaction on the part of the other side.
I searched Naver, YTN, and MBC for footage of the incident in question and found none.
There are a couple of different versions of the incident in the Korean press. The woman’s version is quite different from the pat on the shoulder story. She says that when she asked him a question about his contradictory statements regarding the “New Town” development, he told he didn’t want to talk about, patted her shoulder once, and then gave her two light taps on the cheek with back of his hand.
This, if true, is definately something he should be called to account for.
This may not be pertinent. Okay, it’s not. But I share nonetheless. Because it’s funny.
To quote from Dong-a Ilbo:
[Chung Mong-Joon's] aide said, “Chung (Mong-joon) likes going to public saunas and our district has a number of them. He knows this and visits them at least twice a day. He talks to women voters at the concession area by the entrance to widen his contacts with his constituents.”
http://english.donga.com/srv/s.....8032463188
Uhmmm…at least twice a day…to press the flesh…hopefully not with Johnson’s Johnson…okay…
But, of course, any Chung vs. Chung story needs the other side, so, regarding campaigning in saunas, we have this priceless gem from the other one - Chung Dong-Young - who stands as living testament to how far good hair can take a man:
“Looking at the people sleeping there, I thought urban life is tough,” he said. “It felt better than expected to meet people in the nude.”
I couldn’t possibly make this shit up.
Thank you for reading until the end.
old news.
@#13:
Yes, the woman’s version is different. Curiously, there is no actual footage of the incident available, not even at MBC’s website, despite the fact that the Q&A occurred right after an election rally. There is video footage of Chung being trailed by reporters with questions at other times, but not in this particular case. I haven’t even heard about other witnesses coming forward even though the street was likely crowded with people.
Ken Starr didn’t have an solid case until the blue dress appeared, and likewise, MBC doesn’t have a case without either neutral witnesses or video.
turbo: “She says that when she asked him a question about his contradictory statements regarding the “New Town” development, he told he didn’t want to talk about, patted her shoulder once, and then gave her two light taps on the cheek with back of his hand.”
Even if that’s true…that passes as sexual harassment these days? And I thought we in the west were lawsuit crazy…
I think maybe the issue is belittling a female reporter by treating her like his daughter, or some other little girl. If I patted someone on the cheek when they asked me a hard question it would be because I was trying to say “aww, isn’t she cute.”
That may well be infuriating to a career-minded, pantsuit wearing Korean female journalist (oh baby let me make it all better!) but I don’t think it really qualifies as sexual harassment. But my comment in parentheses DOES constitute sexual harassment. Good thing I’m not running for office right now!
Yeah.. even in that version, ’sexual harassment’ is pushing it. Insulting maybe, and probably sexist though..
As usual, I’m a bit late getting into this discussion.
I cannot comment on the workings of Korean sexual harassment laws, but “inspired” by some of the comments here, I can provide a thumbnail sketch regarding how sexual harassment laws (at the federal level — at the state/local level there will be many variations) operate in the United States. To that end, I will frame the incident as occurring in the United States to illustrate the workings of those (federal) laws.
Generally, to constitute sexual harassment “in the workplace” (and I presume that the reporter, being on the job, will need to make that claim), the activity by the harasser toward the harassee must be:
1. unwanted by the harassee
2. based upon the harassee’s gender
3. the action(s) must create a hostile or abusive environment
4. the action(s) must unreasonably interfere with the harassee’s ability to do his or her job
5. it must be SUFFICIENTLY SEVERE AND/OR PERVASIVE (emphasis added – this is essential)
6. it must affect a term or condition of harassee’s employment
To provide a clearer understanding of the above, employers (in the U.S.) are responsible for protecting their employees from ALL workplace related sexual harassment. In other words, if a customer sexually harasses an employee, the employer must take some sort of action (e.g., tell the customer to leave and never come back or in this case, “warn” the harasser that their behavior is boorish at best and potentially illegal). There is an appreciation in the law that most of the time a single incident will not constitute sexual harassment (or at least not rise to the level of a cause of action). People do stupid/wrong/bad things. If immediate corrective action is taken there is no legal basis for a sexual harassment claim.
As stated above, I do not know the working or the basis in law for the reporter’s sexual harassment claim in Korea. To me, if the incident as described occurred in the United States, she would have a stronger claim for battery or assault and battery. However, such a claim probably wouldn’t generate the same result or “buzz” among the masses as a claim of sexual harassment.
Politics is clearly a blood sport and the media gets to play too.