The High Court yesterday found fugitive South Korean academic Park Jae-kyung guilty of sexual harassment, upholding a ruling by the Taipei District Court, which had sentenced him to 14 months in jail.
Park fled Taiwan last year when travel restrictions against him lapsed.
Park began teaching as a contract assistant professor at National Chengchi University’s Department of Korean Language and Culture in February 2017, but was dismissed in July that year following accusations of sexual harassment by several female students.
The Taipei District Court in December 2018 found Park guilty and sentenced him to 14 months in prison, commutable to a fine of NT$420,000 (US$13,848). The court also imposed travel restrictions against him.
Park and his lawyer filed an appeal with the High Court, which did not extend the travel restrictions after they expired in April last year.
Park left on a flight to South Korea in July last year.
Yesterday’s High Court ruling was final, but critics said justice was not served, as Park has evaded punishment due to judges’ oversight.
Several students said Park had taken advantage of his position to grope and pinch them during private consultations.
A female student surnamed Yeh (葉) said Park touched and groped her several times when she visited his office.
“Park stroked me just below my clavicle. He blew into my palm, then slapped my buttocks twice. He also pinched my cheek and my waist several times, despite my protests,” she said.
Investigators said that several other students detailed similar claims, while others said they had witnessed Park putting his hands on students and hugging them in class.
The university’s gender equality committee investigated the complaints: nine female students accused Park of sexual harassment, while 102 students signed a petition calling for his dismissal, alleging that he had verbally abused and threatened students, and was not fully prepared for his lectures.
Two female students had also sued Park and asked for compensation of NT$1 million each. A Taipei court in December last year ordered Park to pay NT$500,000 and NT$300,000 respectively to the two plaintiffs.
As Taiwan and South Korea do not have a legal assistance agreement, it will be difficult for the two students to obtain compensation.
Separately, the Taipei District Court yesterday announced that it would not proceed with the prosecution of former High Court judge Yang Ping-cheng (楊炳禎), who was accused of touching a nurse’s buttocks during a hospital stay last year.
As Yang had reached an out-of-court settlement with the woman, the case has been dropped, a court release said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS