Reportedly entangled in charges of sexual assault, the missing mayor of South Korea's capital was found dead early Friday, more than half a day after sending his daughter a "will-like" message and then leaving home, police said.
Authorities said they found the body of Park Won-soon near a traditional restaurant in northern Seoul's wooded hills, over seven hours after a massive search for him was conducted.
No signs of foul play were seen and no suicide note was found at the site or in the residence of Park, Choi Ik-su, a Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency officer, told reporters. He declined to provide any further details on Park's cause of death.
Police told South Korea's Yonhap news that the body showed no signs of homicide, adding they would conduct a probe in connection with procedures for a suicide. Choi said rescue dogs located Park's body, and authorities had recovered his cellphone, business cards and bag.
Around 600 police and fire officers have been mobilized for the search, using drones and tracking canines in the Mt. Bugak Hills, where his mobile phone signal was last detected. Police said the phone was turned off when they tried to contact him.
Kim Ji-hyeong, a Seoul Metropolitan Government official, disclosed that Park did not report for duty on Thursday for unspecified reasons and had canceled all of his schedule, which includes a meeting with a presidential official at his City Hall office in the capital city.
The reason for Park's disappearance is yet to be established by the Seoul police. The Seoul-based SBS television network reported that one of Park's secretaries had filed a complaint with authorities late Wednesday over alleged sexual harassment including unwanted physical contact that started in 2017.
Based on the report, which did not cite any sources, the secretary told police investigators that an unspecified number of other female staff had suffered the same sexual abuse by Park.
As a lawyer in 1990s, Park earned accolades for winning South Korea's first sexual harassment conviction. He has also been a vocal critic of Japan's colonial-era policies toward South Korea, including the mobilization of Korean and other women as sex slaves for Japanese troops.
Earlier this week, Park raised eyebrows by being one of several top Democratic party officials to attend the funeral of the mother of Ahn Hee-jung, a former provincial governor who was convicted of sexual offenses in 2019.
Park was elected as Seoul mayor in 2011 and won his third and final term in June 2019. He had long been seen as a potential candidate for South Korea's presidential race. He was 64.
