Seoul City Announces Position on Uncovering Truth Behind Mayor Park Won-soon's Allegations at 11 AM
CCTV footage reported by SBS on the 10th. The late Mayor Park Won-soon leaving his official residence in Gahoe-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 9th, walking along a nearby street. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] Im Soon-young, Seoul City's Special Advisor on Gender, reportedly informed the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon about the 'sexual violence allegations' against him on the 8th, the day Park was accused. After receiving the report, Mayor Park is said to have denied the allegations against him.
Additionally, it has been reported that Seoul City had already begun tracking Mayor Park's whereabouts before receiving the missing person report from his daughter on the day he went missing.
The city will announce its position on fact-finding regarding the human rights violation controversy involving former secretary A, who accused sexual violence, today (the 15th) at 11 a.m.
According to reports from Chosun Ilbo, Hankyoreh, and JTBC on the 14th, Special Advisor Im first reported A's accusation to Mayor Park on the 8th.
Special Advisor Im explained the background of the report, saying, "Around 3 p.m. on the 8th, about an hour and a half before the accusation, I heard from outside Seoul City Hall that 'there is an unpleasant matter related to the Mayor.' I hurried to the Mayor's office and asked him, who was busy with other work, 'Did you make a mistake?'"
Im claimed, "But at that time, I did not know it was related to sexual harassment allegations." Regarding Mayor Park's reaction at that time, Im said, "He asked me, 'What do you mean by that?' When I said, 'There are unpleasant rumors going around,' the Mayor replied, 'I'm busy, so I don't know much about it.'"
When asked whether the Blue House or police had informed him about Mayor Park's accusation, Im said, "That will be clarified later through investigation."
Meanwhile, on that night, after finishing a dinner schedule with some district mayors, Mayor Park held a countermeasure meeting at the Seoul City official residence with the Gender Special Advisor and legal experts. It is known that the possibility of Mayor Park's resignation was even discussed at this meeting.
After the countermeasure meeting, Mayor Park canceled his scheduled appointments around 10 a.m. the next day, the 9th, left the official residence in Gahoe-dong, Jongno-gu, and then lost contact. At 5:17 p.m. that day, Mayor Park's daughter filed a missing person report with the police, and the police and fire authorities began a search.
However, it has been reported that Seoul City had already been investigating Mayor Park's whereabouts before his daughter filed the missing person report with the police.
According to JTBC, a person identifying themselves as a Seoul City Hall official called the Bukaksan Mountain information center twice on the 9th, at 11:20 a.m. and noon, asking, "The Mayor went to see some construction nearby; after visiting the construction site, didn't he go to the Bukaksan Mountain information center?"
JTBC reported, "There was no construction site visit in Mayor Park's canceled schedule that day, and there was no construction site that required the Mayor's direct attention. It appears that the construction site visit was used as a pretext to track his movements."
Seoul City will announce its position on the fact-finding regarding the sexual harassment allegations against the late Mayor Park Won-soon today (the 15th) at 11 a.m. The city stated, "Seoul City plans to conduct a clear and transparent fact-finding investigation without concealment."
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