A Political Star Falls as #MeToo Campaign Builds in South Korea

A Political Star Falls as #MeToo Campaign Builds in South Korea
Many South Koreans still work in a "feudal" command-and-compliance work culture where "those who seize power get to believe
that they can do whatever they want to," the mass-circulation newspaper JoongAng Ilbo said in an editorial last month on the causes of sexual abuse in South Korea.
The politician, Ahn Hee-jung, governor of South Chungcheong Province, announced his resignation and retirement from public life in a Facebook post early Tuesday, hours after one of his secretaries, Kim Ji-eun, claimed in public
that Mr. Ahn had raped her four times since last June.
that I applaud those who had the courage to tell their stories.
He apologetically said that while following the development of the #MeToo movement
rocking South Korea, he realized that he must have hurt her, according to Ms. Kim.
Ms. Seo’s accusation revealed that even prosecutors, one of the most powerful elite groups in South Korea, could be subject to sexual abuse.
Mr. Ahn called Ms. Kim into his office on the night of Feb. 25, looking uneasy,
she said in an interview broadcast on the local cable channel JTBC on Monday.