According to industry reports on September 10, the Seoul Gangnam Police Station confirmed the complaint filed by a netizen named “A” through the public petition system. The police said the case has been referred to Investigation Units 1 and 2 for review and further action. Updates on the investigation will be communicated via mail, telephone, or SMS.
Recently, “A” filed a complaint through the public petition system, accusing the L’Occitane Korea employee of violating the law on special cases concerning the punishment of sexual crimes (illegal filming with a camera).
“A” said: “It is likely that the employee knew that the photo could cause sexual desire or embarrassment,” calling for a thorough investigation and severe punishment.
Previously, an employee of L’Occitane Korea sparked controversy by sharing private photos of Mingyu, who is the brand’s Asian ambassador, on his personal social media account. The employee posted several photos of Mingyu, including a shirtless photo taken during an advertising shoot, with the caption, “Mingyu is taking up a large portion of my photo album. I was too eager to delete them, but maybe it’s time to clean up.”
In response, L’Occitane Korea posted an apology on its official social media account on September 3, stating: “We have no excuse for the unauthorized publication of unofficial photos related to the L’Occitane Asia Ambassador campaign by one of our employees. We take full responsibility and offer our sincere apologies.”
The company further added: “The employee was immediately removed from all duties and disciplinary action (suspension) was taken.”
Additionally, L’Occitane Korea announced plans to introduce regular training for all employees on intellectual property, image rights, publicity rights and privacy protections related to brand ambassadors, to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
Source: Nate
