[Exclusive] Chanel Korea executive convicted of sexual harassment at 1st trial

By Park Gyu Jun

A Chanel Korea executive was embroiled in controversy two years ago, as he was accused of sexually harassing employees of the French luxury brand’s Korean operation habitually.

The court recently reached a verdict of the first trial on this case.

Although the court found the executive guilty, he is still working at the company’s same division.

On Nov. 9, the Seoul Central District Court imposed a fine on the Chanel Korea executive, ruling that he is criminally liable for an indecent act by compulsion.

The case has drawn public attention, since five victims sued him in December 2020.

Earlier this year, the prosecution indicted the executive summarily for sexually harassing one of the five victims. The court made a summary order in June without a trial, considering him to be guilty.

He appealed against the order and requested a formal trial. As a result, the verdict of the first trial came out early last month.

However, he is still working as an executive at the same division, although he was transferred to another team.

Even after the controversy over his alleged sexual harassments, he has reportedly continued working at the Fragrance & Beauty Product (FBP) division.

“We strictly separated him from the victims by transferring him to another team,” a Chanel Korea official said.

A representative from the Chanel Korea union, however, said that “as he still belongs to the same division, there remains possibilities that he may visit Chanel’s cosmetics store inside the department store and that employees may run into him when they visit the headquarters for training.”

The executive lodged an appeal against the first trial’s ruling late last month.

*This was translated from the article originally written in Korean. For more accurate information, please refer to the original version by using the link below. In case of discrepancies between the two versions, the Korean version shall prevail.

https://n.news.naver.com/article/374/0000315132

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