Ministry of Gender Equality,

A company had a customer service education session in August. A guest speaker `A` made a joke to break up an uncomfortable atmosphere due to the hot weather.

`A` asked some women among 50 participants questions like `Do you wear a underwear in such a hot weather?,` `How is your sexual life in such a hot summer?` etc.. He even made fun of the appearances of some women.

However, 20 participants raised the issue to the Ministry of Gender Equality (MGE) that `A` sexually harassed female participants rather than making a simple joke. The gender equality improvement committee of the MGE admitted yesterday the incidents of sexual harassment in the 6th entire staff meeting after examining the persons concerned.

The committee said, " `A` brought about a sense of shame to the female participants, and especially a participant designated to `A` was insulted very seriously. Although `A` just tried to lighten up the atmosphere, he could not be exempt from the responsibility."

The MGE ordered the company or the institution to which `A` belongs to pay compensation to the female participant designated to `A` during the session. But the ministry did not reveal the amount of compensation.

And the ministry requested the company to publicly apologize to the workers and to set a measure for preventing the recurrence of such a case.

The ministry pointed out that "the sexual harassment should be decided on the basis of the feeling of the harassed person rather than the intention of the harassing person. Every company and institution should make caution about sexual harassment to the speakers, irrespective of insider or outsider."

For the report of sexual harassment case: Ministry of Gender Equality homepage (www.moge.go.kr) or MGE gender equality improvement department (02-2106-5232).

Jin Lee leej@donga.com