Yeo: "'Yang Hyang-ja Office Sexual Violence Allegations, Democratic Party's Delayed Response... Truth Must Be Revealed"

Hwang Bo-seung-hee, Chief Spokesperson of the People Power Party [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Amid the growing controversy over allegations of sexual crimes occurring at the local office of Yang Hyang-ja (Gwangju Seo-gu Eul), a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, the People Power Party has called for a thorough investigation and urged, "Strictly punish power-based sexual crimes committed through hierarchical abuse within the party."

Hwang Bo-seung-hee, chief spokesperson for the People Power Party, said in a statement on the 24th, "Yang claimed to have taken all necessary measures regarding the sexual violence allegations against the local office’s accounting manager, but it has now been revealed that this was also a lie."

He added, "According to media reports, the Democratic Party’s Gwangju branch sent an official letter to Yang, requesting that he refrain from making secondary victimizing remarks and, as an interested party, to avoid contact with the victim."

He pointed out, "When the sexual violence allegations surfaced, Yang said he had suspended all staff members, including the office secretary, to prioritize protecting the female employee. However, despite the victim’s claims, he made statements such as 'It is not sexual assault,' which is no different from publicly advocating for victim protection while privately protecting the perpetrator."

Spokesperson Hwang also criticized, "Wasn’t Yang the same person who, in March, apologized to the sexual violence victim of former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon for failing to empathize with the pain of the victim as a woman and referred to her as a 'complainant'?"

He continued, addressing the ruling party, "Even though the party received the report on the 14th and ordered an investigation on the 16th, the Democratic Party only hastily issued an apology after the incident was exposed through the media, and they too must reflect on this."

Meanwhile, according to political circles on the 24th, a man in his 50s, identified as A, who serves as the accounting manager at Yang’s local office, was suspended from duty on charges of repeatedly sexually harassing and assaulting subordinate employees. A, who is Yang’s cousin, reportedly committed sexual violence against subordinate employee B over several months after Yang was elected in last year’s general election and began working at the local office. The victim reportedly went to the Democratic Party’s central office to report the incident but only gave a verbal statement and did not complete a formal damage report. As the allegations spread, the Democratic Party promised on the 23rd, "We will conduct a thorough investigation under a zero-tolerance policy and take the strictest and swiftest possible measures."