Prosecutor who ignited #MeToo in Korea condemns prosecution’s sexual assault probe

Seo Ji-hyun, the prosecutor whose disclosure of sexual misconduct by a senior Justice Ministry official ignited a nationwide #MeToo movement here, strongly condemned the prosecution’s independent team for its lax investigation.

Calling it cursory work, Seo said Tuesday the investigation team had lacked the will to look thoroughly into the sexual misconduct case she had brought against former senior Justice Ministry official Ahn Tae-geun in January.

The prosecution last week indicted former senior prosecutor Ahn without detention for abuse of power and six other charges, following the recommendation of the team. But it did not accept Seo’s allegation of secondary damages from several others after the sexual misconduct occurred in 2010.

“I am not making a personal complaint or trying to embarrass this one person. The only reason I came up front to the world is because this issue is not a mere problem between one abuser and one victim,” she said in a conference hosted at the National Assembly by a group of female lawmakers supporting her.

“(Raising the allegation publicly) was an act of social suicide for me, but I sacrificed my personal happiness over the thought for improvement in the prosecution. And such incidents would not have recurred inside the prosecution, if they had properly punished the abuser early on.”

Seo said in a live televised news interview in January that Ahn had groped her in front of many others at a funeral in 2010. She also claimed Ahn had unfairly transferred her to the Tongyeong branch of the Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office from Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor’s Office after she raised the allegations against him.

Following Seo’s revelations, the prosecution established an independent internal probe team to look into the case, appointing Cho Hee-jin, the chief prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office, to head the effort.

“The probe team lacked three major factors -- the will and ability to investigate the case, and fairness,” Seo said. “The prosecutors did not detain the suspects, even though they are very aware that the suspects know the law very well and there was a possibility of destroying evidence.”

As the statute of limitations had expired for sexual misconduct allegations, Ahn and other related figures were charged for abuse of authority.

For this, Seo explained that the investigation should have first looked into the high-ranking officials of the Justice Ministry and senior prosecutors. But even though the prosecution was very well aware of this, they instead filled the team with those experienced in sexual assault cases, she said.

“I also cannot believe that Cho led the probe until the end, when she should have been a subject of the investigation,” Seo said.

Seo had requested the prosecution remove Cho from the team and said Cho should also be subject to investigation, as she had been responsible for reviewing Seo’s inspection records in the unfair transferring process.

Highlighting that the prosecution is where they punish wrongdoing in society, Seo called for more efforts to maintain the prosecution of her case.

“I feel a responsibility to be strong. It would be discouraging for all other victims to speak out when they see even a prosecutor cannot have her abuser properly punished for his wrongdoing,” Seo said, adding the prosecution should not fail to grasp the opportunity for self-cleansing.

The nine female lawmakers who took part in the conference, including Reps. Han Jeoung-ae and Nam In-soon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, vowed to prepare a joint statement demanding an independent investigation by the National Human Rights Commission.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)