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| Ahn Tae-geun, former senior prosecutor charged with abusing his authority to assign a junior position to a prosecutor who claims Ahn sexually harassed her, is released from a detention center in eastern Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Lee Suh-yoon
Women's rights groups in Korea have condemned the top court's decision to revoke a lower court ruling that jailed a senior prosecutor in a high-profile #MeToo case.
Former prosecutor Ahn Tae-geun, 53, was released from jail after the Supreme Court ruling Thursday. He was detained in January last year for unfairly transferring a female prosecutor to a remote provincial post after she tried to speak up on how Ahn groped her at a funeral. Sexual harassment was not included in the charges due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
The Supreme Court overturned Ahn's two-year jail sentence saying his actions regarding the victim's transfer were within legal boundaries and could not be seen as an abuse of authority.
The ruling was a blow to women's rights groups as Ahn's case was symbolic of the country's #MeToo movement in 2018. It was also unexpected as both lower courts had ruled against him.
"The court is basically saying they see no fault with an undeniable case of retaliatory demotion of personnel inside the prosecution," a #MeToo movement coalition of some 300 women rights groups said in a statement Friday. "The Supreme Court has quashed the slight possibility of bringing to light a sexual harassment case covered up by a massive organization."
Seo Ji-hyun, the plaintiff who went public with her allegations on local television two years ago, said she was baffled by the court decision.
"I can't comprehend how abuse of authority could be defined so narrowly," Seo wrote on Facebook. "How could such an unprecedented use of a retaliatory personnel transfer be considered as discretion?"
Cho Jae-yeon, a human rights director at Korea Women's Hotline, said the ruling would have symbolic repercussions.
"All of Korean society was watching to see how the country's first high-profile #MeToo case would be resolved, including other #MeToo victims who found the strength to speak up after Seo went public with her case," Cho said. "How could the Supreme Court respond so irresponsibly?"
Politicians, priests, theater directors, professors, coaches and even a poet listed for the Nobel Prize ― men in the top tier of Korean society ― were engulfed by the country's #MeToo movement from 2018 to early 2019. Many, like Ahn, are still being tried.
