South Korean spokesperson Yoon Chang-jung was fired Friday, after he allegedly felt up a woman in a Washington hotel during President Park Geun-hye's visit to the White House this week.
A statement released by the South Korean government said that Chang-jung showed "inappropriate conduct as a high-ranking official and damaged the dignity of the country by being personally involved in an unsavory incident."
According to the Washington Post, it also said that Chang-jung is responsible for defiling South Korea's "national prestige."
Officials announced Chang-jung's release from employment on Thursday during their layover in Los Angeles.
Washington D.C. police are looking further into the case, but did not give details on the investigation.
"We are investigating the report of a misdemeanor sexual abuse," police said.
In the police report, neither the suspect nor the victim is named. Police received a call from the Fairfax and Embassy Row Hotel, three blocks from the South Korean Embassy, on May 8, the day after the incident occurred. It outlines that the complainant "[reported] while inside the event location" that the suspect "grabbed her buttocks without permission."
The South Korean Yonhap news agency reported the victim as being a woman in her early 20s, hired as an intern at the embassy to help out during the presidential visit. Another news agency in South Korea, The Chosun Ilbo newspaper, said that the circumstance took place at the hotel's bar, while the embassy staff drank heavily.
Besides the incident at the hotel, the South Korean president's three-day visit to the United States has been seen as a relative success.
In South Korea, Yoon's alleged misstep has caused an uproar amongst both citizens and members of office.
Yoon worked as a columnist before he was hired as the press spokesperson in February. He is 56 years old, and a staunch conservative.
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