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South Korea
This Week in AsiaPolitics

South Korean ex-mayor jailed for sexual harassment in fresh blow to President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party

  • Oh Keo-don, 72, is the third head of a provincial government in South Korea to have become ensnared in a sexual assault case in as many years
  • The late mayor of Seoul Park Won-soon and former South Chungcheong Governor Ahn Hee-jung, both Democratic Party members, were also accused

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Oh Keo-don, left, arrives at a court to attend his trial on sexual harassment allegations in the southern port Busan on Tuesday. Photo: Yonhap via AFP
Park Chan-kyong
The former mayor of Busan, South Korea’s second largest city, was on Tuesday sentenced to three years in prison for sexually harassing two female employees in a blow to President Moon Jae-in’s ruling Democratic Party ahead of next year’s presidential election.
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Oh Keo-don stepped down as mayor of the city of 3.5 million that hosts Asia’s biggest film festival last year following allegations he acted inappropriately towards subordinates.

Three months later, Seoul mayor Park Won-soon, 65, was found dead of an apparent suicide after a woman employee accused him of sexual harassment.
A Buddhist monk pays his respects at a public memorial for late Seoul mayor Park Won-soon in Seoul last year. Photo: AFP
A Buddhist monk pays his respects at a public memorial for late Seoul mayor Park Won-soon in Seoul last year. Photo: AFP

Both men are from Moon’s Democratic Party, which suffered crushing defeats in by-elections for their posts in April, giving the conservative opposition fresh momentum ahead of next year’s presidential poll.

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Oh, 72, insisted on Tuesday that any contact was accidental but before entering court told reporters: “All faults lie in me.”

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