Court ruling on sexual abuse stirs controversy

A lower court on Wednesday ordered a local driver’s license agency to cancel its decision to dismiss a male employee accused of sexually harassing a female applicant.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of a plaintiff who was fired by the Korea Road Traffic Authority last year for sexually harassing and assaulting a female examinee in September. The court said it believes that he intended to make the woman feel less nervous.

“(The plaintiff) as a test supervisor appears to have said such remarks irrelevant to tests to applicants in order to relieve their tension. It is hard to believe that (his) remarks were (sexually) oriented,” the judge said in a ruling.

“The decision to dismiss (the plaintiff) is immoderate when comparing with officials at central government offices who get (lighter punishments such as) salary reductions, a reprimand or suspension.”

The 56-year-old employee of the agency’s Gangnam branch in Seoul is accused of harassing the applicant with a series of sexually oriented remarks and touching her thigh during a road test. The man urged the woman to buy him a drink if she passed the test and to have sex later on.

The man was also found to have been making sexual remarks to other female applicants in the month after the first incident was reported.

The traffic authority fired the man in November for violating the code of conduct as an employee of a public institution.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)