President and CEO of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) Park Hyun Jung, who was recently accused of sexually harassing and verbally abusing her employees, held a press conference on December 5 denying the allegations and claiming that art director and principal conductor Myung Whun Chung is the irresponsible one who started the petition for her removal.

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According to Park, Chung operates the organization as if it's a private company. She explained, "In [the organization], while big decisions arise, small decisions are all first decided upon by director Chung Myung Hoon. I came here for the SPO, I should serve the SPO, not Director Chung."

She shared that there were documents from audits that track the director's unethical activities and list four different cases of complaints about his conduct. At the press conference, she personally listed cases where she believed Chung had abused his authoritative power. According to Park, Chung rescheduled an SPO event to hold his own piano recital to fund his 'Miracle of Music' organization. He also made the SPO pay for his hotel funds while his house was being renovated at one point. Chung also apparently hired a 69-year-old employee who was his friend and youngest son's piano teacher. When the employee retired last year, Chung paid him six months worth of salary. To Park's amazement, Chung then proposed to rehire the same employee. 

Park indicated that under Chung's administration, the SPO operated in a very lax manner. Park stated, "I was extremely shocked by this work culture that is lax, inefficient, and idle; you can't call [the SPO] an organization, it's more like a social club. The employees who have worked here for 6-7 years don't know how to use (Microsoft) Excel." She continued, "It has been eight years since SPO has been established�. When I was appointed [as president and CEO] there wasn't even a list of our past eight years of performances."

When Park became president and CEO of SPO, she intended to restructure the organization and to change the business culture. Apparently, Park had an aggressive style of running business that her employees did not like. Due to the conflict and tension between herself and the employees, Park became verbally abusive towards them.

She explained, "It seems that I thought I could use that kind of language." She seemed to want to clarify the accusations that she treated her female employees like bar hostesses, saying, "I can't remember accurately but I've never even once referred to myself as a 'madam' (a female pimp for prostitutes)." She continued, "I can't give a definite answer like this. I should have used a bit more refined language, and no matter how despaired I felt or how difficult it was, I should have done better. If there is anyone who felt pain during that time, I feel very apologetic."

Park, however, shared that she will be taking action against those who accused her of molestation. She stated, "Regarding this issue, I would like the people who posed this [accusation] to say when, where, what, and how certain things happened�. I'm thinking of actively receiving an inspection from the Board of Audit and Inspection. Even if it's an insider, I will not avoid it. I will not avoid my responsibility."