SEOUL (SOUTH KOREA)
Yonhap News Agency
March 9, 2018
South Korea’s Catholic Church said Friday it will form a special committee to fight sexual assault within the church amid a controversy over a priest’s alleged attempt to rape a female volunteer worker in the past.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK) announced that it reached a decision to form a committee addressing sexual violence within the church at the conference’s five-day spring general meeting, which started on Monday.
The committee will be comprised of around 10 members ranging from clergy to rank-and-file Catholic devotees and will include women. The body will try to study the context behind assault cases within the church and propose measures to prevent sexual violence.
The decision was made in light of a priest at the Catholic Diocese of Suwon, only identified by his surname Han, who was accused of attempting to rape a female worker multiple times during his stay in South Sudan in 2011. He admitted to most of the charges and was suspended from his duties, according to the Suwon diocese.
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