Exclusive: Seoul police probe sitting Gwanak-gu council member over sexual misconduct allegations

Police have launched a full investigation into a sitting Gwanak-gu Council member who faces sexual misconduct allegations.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's women and juvenile crime investigation unit summoned People Power Party council member Lee Gyeong-gwan for questioning as a suspect late last month. A council employee identified only as A filed a complaint against Lee in May at the Gwanak Police Station in Seoul, alleging violations of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. The Gwanak station interviewed the complainant and transferred the case to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in early July, after which investigators called in the complainant, witnesses and other key parties for questioning.

The complaint states that Lee repeatedly sexually harassed and assaulted A over roughly two years — from April 2024 through April this year — while serving as a member of the ninth Gwanak-gu Council. A said Lee repeatedly pressured her to share meals and forced her to drink alcohol, using the prospect of contract renewals and fixed-term employment as leverage, and engaged in unwanted physical contact and made sexually offensive remarks.

The inappropriate conduct, including unwanted physical contact, allegedly occurred inside the council building as well as at outside restaurants and in vehicles.

Lee won election in the June 3 local elections and currently serves as a member of the 10th Gwanak-gu Council. The complainant, A, continues to work as a council employee.

Separate disciplinary proceedings are also under way at the council level. A motion calling for disciplinary action against Lee was referred to the Gwanak-gu Council's special ethics committee on July 15.

Community groups in Gwanak-gu have called for Lee to resign from the council and for the party to expel him. A representative of Gwanak Gongdong Haengdong said the council must hold Lee politically and ethically accountable under the Local Autonomy Act and relevant ordinances, warning that waiting for the investigation's outcome before imposing discipline would amount to the council shirking its responsibilities and could constitute secondary harm against the complainant.

Lee's side, however, flatly denied the allegations, saying "no such thing happened." Lee maintained the same position when questioned by police.

Lee's camp also challenged the council's decision to pursue disciplinary proceedings while a police investigation is ongoing. "We question how disciplinary proceedings can be conducted against a lawmaker who denies the charges," his side said, adding that the facts of the matter should be established through the police investigation currently under way.