Seoul Mayor's Funeral Held With All Honors Despite Public Discontent

SEOUL (Sputnik) - The funeral for Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon has been held with all of the honours attached to a person in such a position despite the discontent of some citizens, who criticise the termination of the investigation on charges of sexual harassment brought against the official.

Yonhap cited sources as saying that Park's former assistant filed a criminal complaint on July 8, accusing him of sexual harassment and "inappropriate" phone messages. In accordance with South Korean law, the proceedings over these allegations were automatically suspended after the mayor's death.

These circumstances have caused discontent among many people and a petition demanding that the authorities abandon holding a magnificent funeral with honours attached to the mayor gained over 560,000 signatures.

People stand and pay their respects at a memorial altar for late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon at Seoul City Hall Plaza in Seoul, South Korea 11 July 2020

© REUTERS / Kim Hong-Ji

The Seoul government has previously said that the mayoral funeral ceremony would last for five days instead of the traditional three.

Park was found dead in the woods of Mount Bugak not far from his residence on July 9 after an hours-long search involving hundreds of police officers, dogs and drones. The 64-year-old official's daughter reported him missing four to five hours after he left home. She said he left her a "will-like" verbal message.

According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, the mayor is presumed to have committed suicide as he left a note in his residence where he said that he was "sorry" to everyone, specifically for "causing only pain" to his family and asked to be cremated.