Leader projected to be next South Korean president quits after rape claims

Ahn Hee-jung dramatic fall came a day after the secretary Kim Ji-eun, made the accusation on a TV news show

A promising politician who had ambitions of becoming South Korea’s next president resigned Tuesday after his secretary accused him of raping her.

Ahn Hee-jung, 52, the governor of South Chungcheong province who last year was runner-up against Moon Jae-in to become the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, has become the latest high-profile figure to fall in the #MeToo movement quickly spreading across the male-dominated society.

His dramatic fall came a day after the secretary, Kim Ji-eun, made the accusation on a TV news show. She told local cable channel JTBC late Monday that Ahn raped her four times over the past eight months. While Ahn hasn’t explicitly confirmed or denied the allegations, the police are investigating.

“The governor called me in late at night recently and looked uneasy when he brought up the #MeToo movement issue. He said he learned from the movement that what he did hurt me and apologized,” Kim told the program. “I thought he wouldn’t do it that night, but he did it again. It was Feb 25.” While Ahn’s office initially said he had consensual sexual relations with Kim, Ahn himself later characterized that explanation as “faulty.” 

The politician said in a Facebook post that he was responsible and was sorry for the pain his “foolish behavior” had caused Kim. He said he would resign from the post he has served in for more than seven years and suspended all political activities.

The fall of Ahn, a politician who had been seen by analysts as a strong candidate to take over from Moon after his five-year term ends in 2022, comes three months before the president’s first electoral test in polls to pick local governors and mayors. The scandal may come to bite Moon, who has urged stronger action against a growing number of sexual abuse cases in the country.

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The #MeToo movement had until recently been relatively muted in South Korea. That started to change in late January, when a female prosecutor appeared on the same TV show and accused her boss for having groped her waist and buttocks at a funeral eight years ago.
 

The movement quickly spread into the theatrical and entertainment world, and protests in support of women’s rights were held in Seoul over the weekend.