Mayor Park Won-soon’s body was discovered in hills in northern Seoul, more than seven hours after local authorities launched a massive search for him.
His daughter called police and said her father had given her “a will-like” verbal message before leaving their home hours earlier. She said she decided to contact authorities because she couldn’t reach her father on the phone.
Seoul-based SBS television network reported that one of Park’s secretaries had lodged a complaint with police over alleged sexual harassment such as unwanted physical contact that began in 2017.
The SBS report said the secretary told police investigators that an unspecified number of other female employees at Seoul City Hall had suffered similar sexual harassment by Park.
Park, 64, a longtime civic activist and human rights lawyer, was elected Seoul mayor in 2011. He became the city’s first mayor to be voted into a third term in June last year. A member of President Moon Jae-in’s liberal Democratic Party, he has been considered a potential presidential candidate in the 2022 elections.