Misbehaving S. Korean Diplomat Ordered Home
A senior South Korean diplomat has been summoned home from Russia for behaving in an offensive manner under the influence of alcohol at an event that took place just three days after he started his job.
The consul general in Russia's Irkutsk City, whose name was withheld, has been under fire for being drunk and disorderly at a dinner on October 20.
"The ministry has decided to pull him out of Irkutsk as a disciplinary measure," a senior official from the foreign ministry told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"When he returns home, he will be put under investigation about the incident," he said.
It happened when South Korean tourism officials and hospital operators were meeting with Russian authorities in the Siberian city as part of efforts to promote medical tourism in South Korea.
During the dinner, he reportedly disturbed speeches by participants, and gestured as if he were licking the hand of a Korean female professor.
The summons came after Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan said on Monday that no leniency would be granted in cases of lapses in discipline among diplomats.
In March this year, Seoul disciplined 10 diplomats at its Shanghai consulate who were embroiled in a sex-for-favors scandal that saw some of them conduct affairs with a married Chinese woman.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/18869 |