Defense agency employee attempts suicide after humiliating sexual assault hearing: Report

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Defense agency employee attempts suicide after humiliating sexual assault hearing: Report

Published: 11 Nov. 2024, 16:54 Updated: 11 Nov. 2024, 19:41

The victim lies in a bed, aired on JTBC current affair's program ″Crime Chief″ on Nov. 8. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A state-run defense agency employee who allegedly endured humiliation during an internal review of a sexual assault against her jumped from her workplace building in an apparent suicide attempt, it was belatedly learned.

According to cable broadcaster JTBC’s current affairs program “Crime Chief,” which aired on Friday, the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) employee reported a colleague who allegedly attempted to sexually assault her during a business trip in August to the agency's grievance committee.

The employee suffered severe injuries, including fractures to her spine, pelvis, wrists and ankles. She has since filed a police complaint against her colleague and the disciplinary committee members.

The employee claimed that on the day of the alleged sexual assault, she had a dinner with colleagues that included alcohol. During the meal, she asked a colleague to hold her room key card because she had nowhere to keep it.

After the meal, they accidentally mixed up their key cards and headed to their respective rooms.

The colleague later intruded into the employee’s room and attempted to assault her, saying, “Since things are like this, why don’t we just sleep together?” A verbal altercation ensued, lasting about 20 minutes, and she eventually fought off his assault.

The colleague is alleged to be a married man, 12 years her senior.

She reported the incident to the agency’s grievance committee, which, based on her recorded testimony and CCTV footage, recognized the case as workplace sexual harassment and decided on a minor disciplinary action for the colleague.

The employee claims she was humiliated by the committee members at the disciplinary committee held on Nov. 4.

According to the employee’s account, the committee chair allegedly asked, “Have you been taking psychiatric medication, perhaps causing delusions or hallucinations?”

The committee members allegedly interrupted her statements and accused her of seducing the colleague, as if she were a "kkotbaem" — a derogatory term in Korean meaning “flower snake,” referring to gold diggers who falsely accuse people of sexual assault for monetary gain.

When the employee denied the allegations in tears, a committee member told her she was disrupting the investigation and sent her to another room. She reportedly left the conference room, saying, “If the organization won’t protect me, I won’t protect myself,” before jumping from a window in the adjacent room, falling from a height of around 5 meters (16.4 feet).

ADD told “Crime Chief” that it could not disclose details about the committee’s remarks or the incident but affirmed full cooperation with the investigation.

The Daejeon Yuseong Police Precinct confirmed Monday it is investigating the sexual assault case.

If you or someone you know is feeling emotionally distressed or struggling with thoughts of suicide, LifeLine Korea can be contacted at 1588-9191. The Seoul Foreign Resident Center offers English-language counseling. Contact 02-2229-4900 to arrange a session. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

Update, Nov. 11: Added details of police investigations into the sexual assault case.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]