A diplomatic sex scandal has erupted out of the Korean Embassy in Mongolia, coming just days after a similar scandal involving a Chinese woman shook the nation, according to news reports in Seoul.
A high ranking diplomat at the Korean Embassy in Ulan Bator was reported to have had an inappropriate relationship with a local woman, the government official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
When the official returned to Seoul from his duty in Mongolia, she, who was pregnant at the time, demanded a large sum of money, threatening to reveal their secret relationship otherwise, the report said. A criminal ring was reported to have been involved in the subsequent spat.
The official resigned in February, 2010, when the government started to investigate the case.
A source said Thursday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been nicknamed the “Ministry of Love Affairs” because of a number of previous scandals there.
As diplomats stay overseas for lengthy periods, they can become more exposed to the possibility of having an affair, according to sources.
The news comes as a sex-for-favors scandal, in which three S. Korean consuls in Shanghai are alleged to have given confidential government information to their 33-year-old mistress, is rocking South Korea.
(wylee@heraldcorp.com)
<한글 기사>
외교부는 ‘외도부’?…몽골에서도..
한국 외교가를 뒤흔들고 있는 ‘상하이 스캔들’ 외에 몽골에서도 비슷한 사건이 있었던 것으로 뒤늦게 알려졌다.
9일 정부 소식통에 따르면 지난 2009년 몽골 울란바토르 주재 한국 대사관에서 근무한 고위 외교관 P모씨는 현지 여성과 부적절한 관계를 맺은 것으로 알려졌다.
문제는 이 외교관이 현지 근무를 끝내고 귀국하게 되면서 불거졌다. P씨의 내연녀는 임신을 했다며 거액을 요구했고 ‘돈을 주지 않으면 관계를 폭로하겠다’고 협박했다. 이 과정에서 현지 조직 폭력배까지 개입된 것으로 알려졌다.
이후 P씨는 관계 당국이 자신의 부적절한 관계에 대한 조사에 돌입하자 지난해 2월 사직했다.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (The Korea Herald) |
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