[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] Recently, at the HY (formerly Korea Yakult) Cheonan factory, a new female employee filed a lawsuit after being repeatedly sexually harassed and assaulted by her direct supervisor and male coworkers.
According to a report by Daejeon MBC on the 15th, the victim stated that after asking her supervisor for help with her health issues, she was massaged all over her body under the pretense of a 'massage' and that after a company dinner, she was sexually assaulted in a car while drunk. It was even more shocking when it was revealed that another male employee had also sexually assaulted the victim in the work area and hallways.
The victim hesitated to report for nine months due to livelihood issues and job insecurity, and when she finally came forward to report internally, she experienced secondary victimization when the company forced her to sign a “confidentiality agreement” stating, “Do not disclose this to anyone.”
HY explained that the measures were taken to “maintain factory order and prevent secondary damage,” but in reality, there is criticism that they forced the victim to remain silent and effectively avoided responsibility by forcing the perpetrator to resign voluntarily or transfer to another factory without disciplinary action.
Expert: “Demanding a confidentiality agreement is a clear secondary harm”
Experts such as the Women's Labor Law Support Center assert that "the confidentiality agreement itself forces the victim to remain silent, and the company's request for this is secondary victimization." In particular, there is growing criticism that the organizational culture, which is eager to protect the company's image, isolates the victim without any protective measures, even though "it is the victim's right to resolve the issue or file a complaint."
Among the 87 sexual assault victims, a whopping 34.9% suffered secondary harm from the company or colleagues, and the main types of secondary harm were ‘non-action or concealment of the incident’ (34.2%), ‘unfavorable action’ (26.6%), and ‘blame, insult, and bullying.’
The number of workplace sexual harassment reports received by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in 2024 was 1,875, the highest in the past five years, but the rate of actual sanctions such as prosecution referral was only 4.76%. Of the reports, 30% were withdrawn, and 36% were concluded as “no violation of the law.”
There are also research results showing that a significant number of sexual crimes in domestic workplaces occur in power relations such as with superiors and executives (61.8%), and the demand for victim protection and corporate responsibility regulations is increasing compared to advanced countries. Some businesses and public institutions have established measures to prevent recurrence, but their effectiveness is still lacking.
Seven out of ten victims in this situation experience a career gap, and the damage is even more likely to be neglected in companies with fewer than 50 employees.
A women's rights expert emphasized, "The HY Cheonan factory incident is a symbolic incident that revealed not only the deviations of some companies with backward corporate culture, but also the problems of Korea's workplace culture and response system as a whole," and "The victims' forced silence, the virtual cover-up, and the lack of effective corporate responsibility are clearly proven by the numbers."
It has been confirmed once again that it is time for businesses, governments, and society to make fundamental improvements to protect victims, punish perpetrators, and guarantee the freedom to disclose damages.