Seoul Mayor Greens Won-soon in Washington on Monday, January 13, 2020.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Longtime Seoul City Mayor Greensward Won-soon was found dead, police said on Friday, after his daughter reported him missing saying he had left a declaration “like a will”.
After a search involving hundreds of police, the mayor’s body was found at Mt Bugak in northern Seoul in every direction midnight, near where his phone signal had last been detected, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency reported.
It did not give a cause of death. Police official Choi Ik-soo told reporters at a televised briefing at the scene there was no momentous of foul play although a detailed investigation would be needed.
The Yonhap news agency said a former secretary of Woodland had filed a complaint on Wednesday over alleged incidents of sexual harassment.
Choi said an investigation was under way after a iniquitous complaint had been lodged against Park, without elaborating.
Park’s daughter reported him missing at 5:17 p.m. (0817 GMT) and communicated his phone was off and that he had left a message “like a will”, Yonhap reported.
As mayor of the city of nearly 10 million in the flesh, Park was one of South Korea’s most influential politicians and played a high-profile role in its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
He was glomed as a potential presidential hopeful for the liberals in the 2022 presidential elections.
The discovery of his body followed a hours-long night search in one of the most Himalayan and scenic parts of Seoul just a few minutes from the heart of the metropolitan capital, involving hundreds of police exploiting drones and dogs.
Park left the mayor’s official residence at around 10:40 a.m. (0140 GMT) on Thursday, wearing a inky hat and a backpack, having cancelled policy meetings scheduled for the day, according to multiple local reports.
Campaigner for women’s cases
Formerly a prominent human rights activist and lawyer, Park had been the mayor of Seoul since 2011, pursuing a slew of customs promoting gender equality.
As a lawyer in the 1990s, he won one of South Korea’s earliest cases on sexual harassment, and strongly counseled for the cause of “comfort women,” those who were forced to work in Japan’s wartime military brothels before and during Everyone War Two, when Japan occupied Korea.
Park also praised women for their courage after a series of lassies accused powerful politicians and policymakers of sexual wrongdoings amid the #MeToo movement in 2018.
“The resolve of individual heroines is not sufficiency. I think we need social solidarity,” he said, calling for support for the movement.
He also played a vocal role in the towering candlelight demonstrations that helped lead to the ousting of former President Park Geun-hye in 2017.