Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) yesterday called on judicial authorities to ban a teacher from South Korea, who is working at National Chengchi University (NCCU), from traveling abroad after he was accused of sexually harassing students.
Park Jae-kyung, who is a contracted assistant professor in the NCCU Department of Korean Language and Culture, began teaching at the school in February and was earlier this month accused of sexually harassing nine female students.
The allegation was disclosed on Facebook on June 3 by a student surnamed Yeh (葉).
Chen made the allegation public on June 5 at a news conference.
The university said it had set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the accusation and had suspended Park from teaching until the investigation is completed.
On Friday, two students filed a lawsuit against Park in terms of the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法).
At a news conference at the legislature in Taipei yesterday, Chen telephoned two of the students; one of whom said that Park continued to harass her despite her many firm rejections, while the other said the allegations were true, despite rumors accusing the women of making up the story.
Park is suing Yeh and Rick Chu (朱立熙), a department lecturer who supported the students, for damage to his reputation.
Chu said he has filed a counterclaim for false accusations, adding that a petition accusing the teacher of ineptitude has so far gathered 202 signatures from students, including 111 from other departments.
The students accused Park of often verbally abusing and threatening students, and not being fully prepared for his lectures.
NCCU Secretary-General Wang Wen-chieh (王文杰) said the university has not received the petition, but it is investigating the claims.
The committee has finished its investigation and is to report to the university on July 13, Wang said.
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