This article presents Katsumi Murotani’s essay “A Violent Storm of Power-Sexual-Harassment Culture,” published in his Hanada series “The Shape of the Neighboring Country.” It examines his argument concerning the legacy of yangban privilege, the emergence of a “new power elite” under the Moon Jae-in administration, and allegations involving former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don and former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.

Katsumi Murotani, widely regarded as one of the world’s leading observers of South Korea, contributes a continuing series entitled “The Shape of the Neighboring Country” to the monthly magazine Hanada.
The following passage is taken from his 2020 essay entitled “A Violent Storm of Power-Sexual-Harassment Culture.”
The assessments and descriptions of South Korean society, individuals, and incidents contained in the quoted passage represent Murotani’s argument.
September 7, 2020
Katsumi Murotani, one of the world’s leading experts on South Korea, contributes to the monthly magazine Hanada a series of essays entitled “The Shape of the Neighboring Country,” which should be essential reading not only for the Japanese people but also for people throughout the world.
The following is taken from his essay entitled “A Violent Storm of Power-Sexual-Harassment Culture,” published in this month’s issue.
The Hidden Face of a “Human-Rights Advocate” Is That of a Lecherous Old Man
During the Joseon dynasty, the Korean Peninsula was a society in which a “person of high status”—a member of the yangban class—would not be held guilty, no matter how unscrupulously he treated people of the lower classes.
This tradition continues even today.
It can be said that the thirty-six years of “Japanese imperial rule” constituted the only exceptional period.
The abolition of the status system eliminated the yangban class, but in the period that followed, “people holding high-ranking positions” and “people with money” effectively became the new yangban.
It was an era described by the phrase, “With money, there is no guilt.”
Today, “people close to the Moon Jae-in administration” and “people belonging to organizations that support the Moon Jae-in administration” are becoming, so to speak, a “new power elite” whose existence transcends the law.
It appears that the yangban of the Joseon dynasty were even free to commit rape as they pleased.
Present-day South Korea is also a “major sex-crime country.”
There are various interpretations because of technical differences in the treatment of crime statistics, but it is generally said that “the incidence of rape is more than ten times that of Japan.”
There is a sociocultural tradition under which it is regarded as natural for “those above to lord it over those below.”
When this is combined with the present condition of a “major sex-crime country,” the result is sexual harassment based on the exercise of power.
It is sexual harassment in the form of workplace bullying—I call it “power-sexual harassment.”
It is not unusual for South Korean diplomats to cause power-sexual-harassment incidents while posted overseas.
On such occasions, the excuse frequently offered by the diplomat who committed the act is that it arose from a “difference in culture.”
If that is so, one begins to wonder whether “power-sexual harassment itself is a part of contemporary South Korean culture.”
The mayors of Busan and Seoul hold positions comparable to those of the mayor of Osaka and the governor of Tokyo in Japan.
Both men were accused of power-sexual harassment within an interval of less than three months.
In April of this year, Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don was accused of power-sexual harassment by his secretary and resigned, leaving behind the bewildering statement, “I do not remember it, but I admit the allegation.”
In July of this year, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon committed suicide after learning that his secretary had accused him of power-sexual harassment.
Oh Keo-don was a man who had long been the subject of various rumors, but he was also known as an old “friend” of President Moon Jae-in.
Perhaps that is why neither the police nor the prosecutors appear to have taken any action.
Park Won-soon had much in common with Moon Jae-in.
They passed the bar examination in the same year, and both promoted themselves as “human-rights lawyers.”
Park Won-soon served as an attorney in South Korea’s first sexual-harassment trial and won the case.
He was particularly enthusiastic about the comfort-women issue.
At the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal, a mock tribunal held in December 2000, he acted as a prosecutor representing South Korea and indicted Emperor Showa on the charge of forcibly taking away and abusing more than 100,000 South Korean women as comfort women for the Japanese military.
His campaign pledge as mayor was to “create a city in which women can feel safe.”
He was a populist politician who gained popularity through cash-distribution welfare policies and publicity-seeking performances, and he was regarded as one of the prospective candidates for the next presidency.
Behind that public image, however, he selected a woman he had noticed while inspecting a city-affiliated facility and appointed her as his secretary.
He then made her attend to his underwear after he had taken a nap and showered in a small room attached to the mayor’s office.
Furthermore, he continued attempting to seduce her by email and sent her a photograph of himself in his underwear—or, according to rumors in South Korea, a photograph of his genitals.
His son has also been suspected of evading military service—something that cannot be accomplished unless a parent exercises political power.
His public face was that of a “human-rights feminist,” while his hidden face was that of “a lecherous old man who used his authority as a shield.”
This man might conceivably have become the country’s next president.
Park Won-soon was said to have been a rare example in South Korea of an “idobei politician”—a politician supposedly so devoted to public service that he possessed little personal wealth.
According to the financial disclosure required of public officials, his liabilities exceeded his assets, leaving him with a negative net worth of 700 million won.
Nevertheless, his private car was a Lexus, and the foundation over which he exercised effective control had received substantial donations from Toyota.
It may not be long before allegations concerning secret funds held by the Park Won-soon family are raised.
To be continued.