South Korea’s China ambassador faces abuse probe as President Yoon gets no respite after election rout
- Envoy Chung Jae-ho allegedly bullied embassy staff and a South Korean team is in Beijing to investigate the matter, according to a media report
- President Yoon Suk-yeol is under growing pressure to dismiss his unpopular loyalists after his party’s crushing election defeat last week
One attaché reportedly filed formal complaints with Seoul’s foreign ministry, accompanied by audio recordings of the ambassador’s alleged abusive conduct.
“The necessary investigation concerning Ambassador Chung is under way per relevant procedures,” a ministry official told This Week in Asia. He declined to give further details including whether an audit team had been dispatched to Beijing and how long the inspection would last.
In a statement sent to correspondents in China earlier, Chung said media reports on the case were based on a “one-sided claim”. He gave no further details, citing the forthcoming probe.
Since the staff abuse allegations surfaced early last month, Chung has reportedly been maintaining his duties, including organising the screening of Korean cinema shows for foreign ambassadors in Beijing, but he has stopped seeing Korean correspondents in the city.
