SNU President Chung Making Apology After Stirring Controversy

Remarks made by Chung Un-chan, president of Seoul National University (SNU), in a meeting with Han Myung-sook, Minister of Gender Equality on Oct. 23, are stirring controversy. The point of his remarks was that the sexual harassment scandal involving co-adjustor Woo at Seoul National University started from the revenge of Ms. Woo, who was rejected in a new contract and as a result, a professor was unjustly ostracized from the academic community.

The remarks were made when Minister Han were meeting with Mr. Chung from 3:30 to 4:10 Oct. 23 at the 19th floor of the Korea Press Center after Minister Han got messages that the Minister of Gender Equality should pay attention to issues such as employment of more female professors and sexual harassment scandals at the university from the student council of the SNU law school.

At the meeting, the university president said, "Professor Shin did not do the right thing at all, but it was unfair to oust him from society. In the complaint, 20 in the 40 articles were far-fetched. But the sentence was already delivered. So, movements for women`s right should be made carefully."

Then he continued, "Ms. Woo was employed as a co-adjustor, not an assistant teacher and her contract expired. So she harbored a grudge against him. The incident was exaggerated. As a result, professor Shin got the unjust treatment."

However, to his remarks, Gender Equality Minister Han retorted, "About sexual harassment, men are very lenient toward themselves thinking that it is not a big deal. But women, the victims, are hurt seriously." The two people were at the meeting without their aides. However, reporters of Yonhap News and WomanTimes were watching their talks from a near-by table. Mr. Chung first thought that they were from the Ministry of Gender Equality. However, after he realized that they were reporters through reading business cards passed on to him by them when the meeting was finished, he said, "I don`t want to see a report about our meeting put down in black and white."

As his remarks have been creating controversy, he had a press meeting at the pressroom at the university, in which he said, "I feel sorry that I caused the public to feel anxiety."

The sexual harassment case involving co-adjustor Woo was the first case that dealt with the sexual harassment in the workplace. After 6 years of legal battles, the Seoul High Court ruled that professor Shin should pay 5 million won to Ms. Woo, the plaintiff. The ruling rammed home the perception that sexual harassment is a kind of crime to Korean society.

buddy@donga.com