Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon — a #MeToo supporter — a was found dead of an apparent suicide a day after an employee filed a sexual harassment claim against him
- Park Won-soon was reported missing by his daughter on Thursday hours after he left the house.
- His daughter told police that Park gave her a "will-like" message before leaving his home in the morning, according to the Associated Press.
- A sexual harassment claim was filed against Park a day earlier.
- Police told local media early Friday morning that his body had been found.
Park Won-soon, the mayor of the South Korean capital city of Seoul, has been found dead, according to local media.
Park was reported missing by his daughter on Thursday evening, hours after he left their home and gave her a "will-like message," the Associated Press reported.
She called the police after not being able to get her father on the phone for hours, according to the Associated Press.
About 700 officers, three drones, and four police dogs were deployed in the search, police told reporters. They were looking for Park near a small hill in Seoul's Sungbuk neighborhood, where his cellphone signal was last detected, according to the Associated Press.
South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo, or "The Central Times," reported that Park was found dead near Mt. Bugak in northern Seoul about seven hours after his daughter reported him missing.
The paper reported that his death appears to be an apparent suicide, but the exact cause is under an investigation. Police said that he had called an acquaintance at 2:42 p.m. on Thursday before his phone lost service at a practice golf course near the mountain.
The mayor, who was elected in 2011, had canceled his work schedule on Thursday and left home wearing a black hat and a backpack, according to Reuters.
His disappearance comes a day after one of his secretaries filed a formal complaint with police alleging sexual harassment dating back to 2017, the Seoul-based SBS television network and BBC News reported.
Park, a member of President Moon Jae-in's liberal Democratic Party, is a longtime civic activist and human rights lawyer, according to the AP.
He has been a high-profile supporter of the #MeToo movement in South Korea, according to The Washington Post. As a lawyer, he won one of South Korea's first cases involving sexual harassment, the Post reported.
He has been considered a potential presidential candidate in the 2022 elections.
Inyoung Choi contributed to this report.
This story has been updated.
- Read more:
- Photos show incredible coronavirus-themed drone messages flying over Seoul, South Korea
- Trump tried to flex by asking a reporter about the population of Seoul. Then he got it wrong by 28 million.
- The leader of a fringe religious sect at the center of South Korea's coronavirus outbreak has apologized as Seoul's mayor files a lawsuit accusing the group of 'murder' and 'injury'