Foreign Ministry says probe on Korean envoy to China didn’t warrant disciplinary action

Power abuse allegations raised against South Korea's top envoy to China by one of the embassy staffers were found to not be serious enough to warrant disciplinary action, according to an internal probe by the Foreign Ministry Tuesday.

The ministry reached the conclusion after conducting a 10-day inquiry into the allegations that Ambassador Chung Jae-ho verbally harassed and treated the embassy official in an arrogant and authoritarian manner.

The complaint also included allegations that Chung pressured the Korean companies in China to pay for the costs to set up business promotion booths at embassy events.

The probe has found that while Chung did make some "inappropriate" remarks to his staff members at the embassy during some workshop sessions, the degree of impropriety was insufficient to constitute grounds for taking any disciplinary measures.

It also decided to close the case regarding the alleged violation of the graft law with the embassy events, as the booths were voluntarily set up by the participating companies expecting promotional effects.

The ministry plans to issue a verbal notice to Chung calling his attention to practicing caution, as it has determined that the case does not fall into the category that calls for disciplinary measures, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The allegations stirred up criticism that Chung's alleged attitude potentially amounted to a bad workplace practice known as gapjil in Korean.

The case has also drawn attention as Chung, a former college professor, is known for his close ties with President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Yonhap