Yoon Chang-jung should go to the US for investigation

The Korea Embassy to the U.S. sent to Washington police Sunday Korean government`s request for prompt investigation to the allegations that now-sacked former presidential spokesperson Yoon Chang-jung sexually abused a young woman during President Park Geun-hye`s visit to the U.S. The Korean government is under suspicion that it sent Yoon to Seoul to avoid him from being investigated by U.S. police. This is an act of letting a criminal escape. Having Yoon be investigated in the U.S. and punished by its law is a way to protect the reputation of the country from falling further. The Korean community in the U.S. are angry over Yoon`s sexual harassment on a Korean-American college girl. A Korean association in the U.S. announced a statement demanding the prompt repatriation of Yoon.

Washington police spokesman Paul Metcalfe told the Dong-A Ilbo Monday that Yoon Chang-jung case is a misdemeanor but they are investigating it on the level of heavy crime like murder and rape. He is aware of how significant the case is in Korea. Lawyers in the U.S. say Yoon`s grabbing of the girl`s buttocks while naked at his hotel room is heavy crime and can be convicted of attempted rape. Heavy crime that requires more than a year in jail demand extradition if the U.S. demands.

The presidential office needs to open up to the public what the presidential secretariat of civil affairs investigated on Yoon and send it to U.S. investigation authorities to support their prompt investigation. There is neither reason nor need to protect Yoon who disgraced the country.

Yoon committed a heinous crime but shows no signs of regret. At the news conference Saturday, he criticized the woman`s immaturity in duty and passed on responsibility to presidential secretary of public affairs Lee Nam-ki in trying to blur the main issue of the case. He threatened reporters who said they saw him drunk past midnight at Fairfax Hotel where the sexual abuse took place by sending them text messages. At the news conference, he said he would legally respond to press releases.

If Yoon has conscience left in him, he should voluntarily go to U.S. police and be investigated to finalize the case swiftly. This is the only way he can send apology to the victim and is the final respect he can show to President Park who had nominated him. He must bow a hundred times to the victim and her family. The more Yoon lies, the more the public will explode with anger.