Despite 'frightening' taxi driver's clear verbal sexual harassment of woman passenger, he cannot be punished under South Korean law. — SCMP
A South Korean taxi driver who harassed a tourist from Thailand by suggesting that she could “pay” the fare with her body has sparked anger online in both countries.
A woman visitor posted a video clip on a social media platform on June 19, showing an unidentified taxi driver communicating with her using a translation app while in his cab.
He was asking her inappropriate personal questions, like whether she had a boyfriend and why she was not married.
The driver also said that he could find her a job: “It is not hard. You just need to clean rooms,” he said.
The woman was taking the taxi to Seoul Station to board a train to Busan.
After learning that Busan was her destination, the driver proposed to drive her there himself and said: “If you do not have money for the fare, you can pay with your body.”
The poster said the driver even stopped his car to talk to her at one point, which she found most frightening.
Finally, he took her to the railway station, but gave her his number and asked her when she would be coming back.
Posting the video online, the woman said she had a bad experience taking a taxi in South Korea and warned people to be careful.
She added that she called the taxi on an app and also used it to report him.
Her video has attracted 660,000 likes and more than 400 comments.
The comments from Thai and South Korean online observers supported her.
Some South Korean people even apologised on the taxi driver’s behalf.
“I am sorry that such a horrible thing happened to you,” one person said.
Another suggested that she should report him to the police.
“You should report the incident to the police. This is sexual harassment. If this type of person is left unpunished, they will do the same to others in future,” the person said.
A third online observer from South Korea said: “We should punish this driver severely for sexual harassment or at least make his personal information public.”
Verbal sexual harassment is not recognised as a crime in South Korea.
The country’s criminal law only considers molesting others in public as punishable.
Many others called on the country to introduce legislation to tackle verbal sexual harassment. Some also called for the driving licence to be revoked. – South China Morning Post
