A serving professor at Seoul National University has been referred to prosecutors on charges of sexually assaulting a graduate student they were supervising.
Seoul's Gwanak Police Station referred the professor, identified only as A, a science faculty member in their 50s, to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on June 16 without detention on charges of indecent assault by abuse of authority, police said on the 14th.
A is accused of demanding physical contact from B, a graduate student in their 20s under A's supervision, and then assaulting the student near Sillim Station in Seoul's Gwanak district on March 24.
B told investigators that it was difficult to refuse the request because A was the student's thesis adviser, according to sources.
The university's Human Rights Center recommended in July that A be dismissed or removed from the post, and internal disciplinary proceedings are under way, sources said.
