MAYOR FOUND TO BE SUED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT

[Anchor Lead]

Mayor Park Won-soon cancelled all his appointments yesterday morning before leaving the official residence. He said something strange to his daughter before he left, which caused her to report her father missing when she couldn't reach him. The Seoul mayor was reportedly sued for sexual harassment.

[Pkg]

​The Seoul city government announced at 10:40 AM Thursday local time, that Mayor Park Won-soon's appointments scheduled for the afternoon were cancelled. Park reportedly told his spokespersons' office that he wasn't feeling well due to the heavy workload in recent weeks. Four minutes later, Mayor Park left the official residence in northern Seoul carrying a backpack. He said something strange to his daughter as he left the residence. A surveilance camera footage shows he was near Waryong Park at 10:53am. His phone has been turned off since then and his daughter reported him missing to the police after failing to reach him for over six hours.

[Soundbite] LEE BYEONG-SEOK (SEONGBUK POLICE STATION, SEOUL) : "The first call was received at 5:17 PM. The search began around 5:30."

New facts came to light while police officers and firefighters were searching for him. Mayor Park was sued for sexual harassment two days earlier. His former secretary had visited the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to file charges and was questioned.

[Soundbite] CHOI IK-SOO(DETECTIVE DIVISION, SEOUL METROPOLITAN POLICE AGENCY) : "Charges against Mayor Park have been filed at the SMPA and the case is under investigation."

According to her testimony, she had been sexually harassed several times since she started working for him in 2017. But it remains unclear whether this lawsuit had anything to do with Mayor Park's death.

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