Complaint against late Seoul Mayor possibly leaked: Report

Seoul, July 14 (IANS) Questions have been mounting if late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon was tipped off about a sexual harassment complaint against him before apparently taking his own life, a media report said on Tuesday.

While circumstantial evidence indicates that he might have known about the complaint, it remains unknown who leaked the information as all the involved agencies have strongly denied the suspicion, said the Yonhap News Agency report.

Police claimed it briefed the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on the case but didn’t tell Park about it, while the presidential office denied having passed the information to the mayor.

The Seoul metropolitan government said it hadn’t been aware of the complaint at all.

But a official told Yonhap New Agency on Tuesday that the government understands that the city had been aware of an upcoming complaint against the Mayor and updated Park on the development.

“(Park’s death) happened after the Mayor was briefed by city officials (on the upcoming complaint),” the official told Yonhap.

The complaint was filed at 4.30 p.m. on July 8 by Park’s former secretary at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

She was under a police probe until 2.30 a.m. the next day, according to her lawyer.

That morning, Park abruptly cancelled his schedule for the day and went missing until he was found dead on July 10 morning.

–IANS

ksk/