Attorney for late Seoul mayor indicted for Facebook post

Attorney Jeong Cheol-seung speaks to the press at his office in Seocho District, southern Seoul on May 1. [NEWS1]

Prosecutors indicted an attorney who defended late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in his alleged sexual harassment.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office indicted attorney Jeong Cheol-seung last week for violating the act on the punishment of sexual crimes by uploading a Facebook post in August 2021 enabling the identification of a woman who filed a lawsuit against Park for sexual harassment, according to the JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday.

Jeong is accused of violating the sexual crimes punishment act, which states no public official “shall disclose or divulge” the victim’s details to a third party.

He is also charged with violation of the Personal Information Protection Act and defamation.

The controversial post by Jeong, titled, “Facts related to the case of former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon,” said that the alleged victim claimed she was sexually harassed by Park in July 2015 while working for him as a secretary and that he sent her inappropriate texts even after she moved to another institute in July 2019. There is no proof of such allegations, the post, uploaded a month after Park died, added.

Prosecutors said that Jeong violated the law by mentioning a different case involving the victim and containing a pseudonym that could identify her personal details.

The victim had filed a lawsuit over Jeong's posts, citing secondary harm.

The Seoul Central District Court in September 2021 ruled that Jeong delete one of his three uploaded posts.

Jeong appealed the ruling, which the court denied.

The court explained the content of the post has “the potential to harm the reputations of the victim."

The post has currently been deleted.

An investigation into the case involving the deceased former Seoul mayor kicked off after a woman filed a criminal complaint with police alleging she had been sexually harassed by the mayor in 2017.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency referred the case to the prosecution in February last year.

Park had been serving as Seoul mayor since 2011 and was found dead in July 2020 in an apparent suicide.

“Prosecutors indicted only a part of the allegations filed by the victim after clearing most charges against me due to a lack of evidence after a long period of consideration,” Jeong said, adding that he will testify more specifically in court.

BY HEO JEONG-WON, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]