One of South Korea’s most prominent elected officials and longtime mayor of the capital Seoul was found dead on Friday after he was reported missing by his daughter amid a criminal probe and media reports of alleged sexual harassment.
HE LEFT AN APOLOGY NOTE
Officers using drones and sniffer dogs found Mayor Park Won-soon’s body at Mt Bugak in northern Seoul shortly after midnight following a search involving hundreds of police, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said.
The apparent suicide came after one of Park’s former secretaries filed a complaint on Wednesday alleging the 64-year-old had sexually harassed her, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Police confirmed a criminal complaint had been made against Park but did not elaborate on the nature of the allegations. “I apologise to everyone,” Park wrote in a note left on his desk and released by the city government with the permission of his family. “I thank everyone who was with me in my lifetime. I am so sorry to my family, to whom I have only caused pain.”
Park’s daughter reported him missing at 5:17 p.m. (0817 GMT) on Thursday, police said. He had left the mayor’s official residence at around 10:40 a.m. on Thursday, wearing a black hat and a backpack, having cancelled meetings for the day.