Government legislation ministry says sexual harassment law covers external victims

The government legislation ministry said in a response dated May 26 that individuals outside an organization, such as customers or service users, fall within the scope of protection against sexual harassment under South Korea's Basic Act on Gender Equality.

The Ministry of Government Legislation finalized the stance in response to a public inquiry (case 26-0114) regarding whether the term "counterparty" in Article 3 of the act is limited to employees within the same entity. The ministry concluded that the definition extends to third parties formed through civil service or customer service interactions.

The interpretation noted that while "employment relationships" typically exist within a single organization, "work-related relationships" often involve outsiders. This distinction ensures that staff members interacting with the public are covered when leveraging their position to make sexual demands or comments.

The ministry cited the 2014 revision of the act, which removed the qualifier "employment" from provisions regarding disadvantages, as the driver for this broader application. Previously, the law's focus on employment-specific penalties created a gap where harassment of clients or petitioners fell outside the legal definition. By deleting this limitation, the revised law now explicitly encompasses acts where benefits are offered conditional on sexual compliance or where refusal leads to detriment, regardless of the victim's employment status.

Internal harassment between staff members remains regulated separately under the Act on Equal Employment Opportunity and Support for Work-Family Balance. The ministry emphasized that restricting the counterparty definition to internal staff would fail to address the various forms of harassment occurring during routine interactions with nationals and customers, contradicting the act's purpose of realizing gender equality across all social domains.