[UPDATE] CEO and President of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra Hyun-jung Park Quits, Effective Immediately, After Allegations of Sexual Harassment and Misconduct

Hyun-jung Park, president and CEO of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, who was recently accused of sexually harassing and verbally abusing her employees, has announced the she will resign from her post effective immediately.

Park made the announcement during a packed press conference, where she addressed her alleged misconduct.

"I intend to resign as president of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra from today," Park said. ”I am to blame for a large part [of the allegations] and I sincerely apologize for that. Restoring my personal reputation is more important than anything, but I could not bear the abnormal state of the Seoul Phil, which is run on taxpayers's money."

Park’s career fell apart when 17 of the Seoul Philharmonic’s employees testified in a petition that she constantly abused them, with one male employee claiming that she had too much to drink at a public dinner gathering and grabbed him by the necktie, attempting to touch his genitals. Three female employees said Park suggested they offer themselves sexually, telling one she would be a good hostess and the other two that they should sit next to important male guests and accommodate their needs.

But Park did not just make enemies of her employees. Recently, she went head to head with art director and principle conductor Myung-Whun Chung, who she claimed was organizing a coup against her. Park shared that there were documents from audits that track the director's unethical activities and listed 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.

Park's resignation offer comes one day before the board of the city orchestra is set to decide whether to fire the female head over the allegations. City officials said the Seoul Phil board plans to discuss Tuesday, Dec. 30, whether to accept the resignation.

Also scheduled for discussion at the board meeting is whether to retain Chung.