The male victim has spoken to the Herald about the verdict today in the South Korean courts at the conclusion of a 7-year ordeal that has left him with PTSD and unable to work since.
“It’s been a really difficult time for me and it’s reassuring to see the Korean police and prosecutors have taken this seriously and that he’s now been found guilty of the crimes committed,” the victim said.
“So, it’s a sense of relief. Justice has been served in Korea where New Zealand failed to do so.”
The allegations date to 2017 and the diplomat, former deputy ambassador Hongkon Kim, left New Zealand the following year. The 58-year-old diplomat was accused of groping the male staff member multiple times.
“I hope that now there’s a guilty verdict, Kim might recognise what he did and apologise,” the victim said.
The guilty verdict and suspended sentence of two years jail, with three years of probation, was handed down in the Incheon District Court today in South Korea.
Korean media Yonhap news reported that during the trial Kim claimed: “I only admit to hitting him on the buttocks and stomach once each”.
The court today also ordered Kim to take 40 hours of sexual violence treatment classes and 160 hours of community service. He was also restricted from working at any institution related to children, adolescents, or the disabled for five years.
The victim said his lawyer informed him Korean prosecutors would be appealing the suspended jail sentence.
“I did raise with the Korean President when we spoke of our disappointment that diplomatic immunity was not waived during the course of those investigations. I certainly felt as though the president heard those concerns,” Ardern said.
In handing down the sentence in South Korea today, Yonhap news reported Judge Kim Jeong-ah found: “The victim complained of mental distress and requested a severe punishment… Although this is the defendant’s first offence, we took into consideration the fact that this incident also had a negative impact on the national interests of the Republic of Korea”.
Hongkon Kim was accused of three counts of indecent assault at the Wellington Embassy in 2017. Photo / File
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / NZME
The New Zealand victim filed a formal complaint with Seoul’s Metropolitan Police Agency in December 2022 - after a complaint with New Zealand police in July 2019 was not progressed.
The victim said today he was not in the right mental state to comment on NZ Police’s response to his complaint in 2019, in light of the guilty verdict.
“It’s just such a distressing time that I’m not even thinking about those things at the moment,” the victim said.
“The New Zealand government knows that it’s failed in its handling of this case and right now I’m just focused on trying to regain my health.”
A warrant for Kim’s arrest was issued by a Wellington District Court judge in late February 2020 on three charges of indecent assault and New Zealand officials sought waivers of diplomatic immunity from the South Korean Government to allow police to conduct evidential inquiries at the South Korean Embassy in Wellington.
Detective Inspector John Van Den Heuvel said at the time that after “carefully considering the evidence and legal advice” NZ police had concluded that the higher threshold required to initiate extradition proceedings has not been met.
South Korea’s prosecutors’ office then took up the complaint in 2023.
On August 16, the prosecution requested a 5-year prison sentence for Kim and requested he attend a sexual violence treatment course.
The victim has travelled to Korea several times over the past seven years to assist with the judicial process: first in December 2022 to February 2023, and then in January this year to be a witness in the trial.
The victim initially travelled to Korea completely independently without any consular assistance from the New Zealand Government.
The victim complained to the Ombudsman who began an investigation which led to MFAT then sending a staff member to the hearings at the Incheon District Court.
Kim retired from the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the first half 2024.
Tom Dillane is an Auckland-based journalist covering local government and crime as well as sports investigations. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is deputy head of news.
