Thursday, the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) issued an apology for mishandling the sexual harassment claim brought against former festival director Huh Moon-sung.
In a statement released on Thursday, BIFF said, “We bow our heads and sincerely apologize for the incident of sexual harassment and violence that occurred in the workplace,” referring to the incident reported by a BIFF employee to the Center for Gender Equality in Korean Film.
The employee accused Huh of using sexually explicit and inappropriate language.
In its May 31 press release, BIFF apologized for characterizing the case as an individual issue.
“There was an announcement where we did not fully consider the victim’s position and where we did not take prompt action,” read the statement released on Thursday.
BIFF expresses regret for oversight of sexual harassment at work report
It stated that it will “faithfully” undertake an internal investigation “in accordance with the procedure recommended by the Center for Gender Equality in Korean Film” and prepare institutional safeguards to prevent a recurrence.
BIFF also apologized for accepting Huh’s resignation on June 2 without regard to the sexual harassment allegation, stating that Huh’s resignation was accepted not because BIFF did not respect the victim’s wishes, but because the resignation had already begun to be processed before the case was reported.
However, BIFF stated that it would be challenging to rescind the accepted resignation.
BIFF pledged in a statement released on Thursday that the incident in question would be exhaustively investigated and that a press release and contrition would be issued once the investigation was complete.
After Cho Jong-kook’s appointment as managing director and Huh’s resignation on May 11, a complaint was lodged with the Center for Gender Equality in Korean Film alleging that Huh had been sexually abusive and violent towards a BIFF employee.
Huh denied the allegations and stated that he was resigning due to the “considerable damage to the festival” that the investigation of the case would cause.