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| A screenshot of Lee Jae-myung Plus, a communications platform operated on KakaoTalk by the Democratic Party of Korea's election committee, posted by a user who claimed the platform staffer sexually harassed her / Captured from Democratic Party of Korea's website |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
An online communications worker for ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung drew criticism for making comments about the appearance of a female user, which could be considered sexual harassment.
A post was uploaded to the DPK's online board, last Thursday, by the woman, who used "Lee Jae-myung Plus," a communications platform operated on KakaoTalk by the DPK's election committee to provide direct answers to questions from citizens.
The user said she posted on the platform asking if Lee had the final approving authority for the Daejang-dong development project, in which a newly established small company took charge of the lucrative project in a region of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, when Lee was the Seongnam mayor.
One of the staff members then answered: "Your name is pretty. Your profile photo is pretty as well. Your name is the same as my favorite webtoon character. I think you are also pretty."
"They can't answer whether Lee is behind the Daejang-dong scandal or not, but brought up my name and appearance instead. I wonder if the best the Lee's election camp can do is judge citizens by their appearance," the user wrote.
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| Lee Jae-myung, left, presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, poses for a selfie with a citizen while riding Seoul Metro Line 4 from Sookmyung Women's University Station to Chongshin University Station, Friday. Courtesy of DPK election committee |
As the user raised the issue of sexual harassment, the platform's manager apologized for the staff member's lack of basic courtesy, admitting that mentioning the user's name and profile photo was inappropriate.
"I will provide training for the communications team to prevent further issues," the manager said.
The manager asked for the user's phone number so he could make a formal apology over the phone, but the user refused to provide her contact information.
As the controversy grew, the DPK election committee apologized on behalf of the staffer, saying that he had crossed the line. "We had the person in question stop working and he will be dismissed soon," a committee official said.
