Ex-lawmaker turned golf club chairman faces sexual harassment probe; calls remarks 'universal jokes'

Police have launched an investigation after a series of complaints were filed against the chairman of a Busan golf club — a former lawmaker — over allegations of persistent sexual harassment and verbal abuse toward employees.

According to JTBC's "Sageon Banjang," a TV crime-news program, employees and the labor union at the golf club filed complaints alleging that Chairman A, who is in his 70s, had engaged in workplace harassment and sexual harassment since taking office in March last year.

The chairmanship is an honorary, three-year position elected by a vote of club members.

According to the affected employees, A's verbal abuse and threats of physical violence were routine. During meetings, if displeased, he would throw water bottles at desks or lift flower pots above his head and hurl them to the floor. One employee who endured profanity-laced tirades for submitting a late report was later diagnosed with an adjustment disorder due to severe stress.

As many as 24 employees are said to have left the company because they could no longer endure A's gapjil, "power-trip behavior" — among them long-serving staff with more than 20 years at the club and employees who had been nearing retirement.

Evidence of serious sexual harassment targeting younger female employees also emerged. At company dinners, A allegedly showed a photo of a liquor bottle and described it as "a drink you rub on someone's body and lick off," and made remarks such as "alcohol tastes better when a woman pours it" and "a woman needs an older lover to succeed."

He also allegedly told a female employee roughly 50 years his junior, "Why aren't you wearing stockings lately — should I buy you some?" and "If you're lonely, it would be easier if you came to work as my secretary." He reportedly asked her to send him pornographic material, saying he was lonely at home alone. Investigators also found evidence that he had sent videos of scantily clad women dancing directly to female employees.

The affected employees say they were too afraid of retaliation or other repercussions to lodge formal complaints, and many have since sought psychiatric treatment for the severe distress they experienced.

A denied that his remarks constituted sexual harassment, calling them "universal" jokes, and claimed that sending the explicit video to employees was an accident caused by his thick fingers.

On the sexual harassment allegations, A said, "They were jokes of the kind commonly made at company dinners — there was no intent to sexually harass anyone." Regarding the explicit videos sent to female employees, he explained, "I was trying to send a video to club members in their 80s and 90s, but my thick fingers caused me to accidentally tap the wrong chat room."

He also rebuffed the allegations of verbal abuse and gapjil, saying, "The flower pot fell by accident when I stood up, and what was legitimate workplace guidance given with affection has been twisted into workplace harassment." A warned of legal action over what he called false claims, adding, "It seems there is a third force trying to block change and innovation."

The affected employees and the union have filed complaints with police, who plan to investigate the precise circumstances of the case and determine whether workplace harassment and sexual harassment occurred.