The sexual misconduct of former Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Yoon Chang-jung during President Park Geun-hye's U.S. visit and the ensuing responses disclosed overall problems in morality and in the administration of state affairs.

Cheong Wa Dae did not act like the head of state affairs, revealing serious problems: they displayed lax discipline among public officials, dawdled in reporting the incident, made a false briefing, dumped the responsibility on other parties, and exposed incompetence in crisis management.

The Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson, the "mouth" of President Park, displayed slack morality when he sexually harassed an intern while having drinks at a bar during the president's first overseas trip. Lee Nam-ki, Senior Secretary to the President for Public Affairs, was aware of the allegations against Yoon shortly after the incident, but he made a report to President Park after 24 hours.

Lee said, "I wanted to inform the president on the day of the incident, but made the report the next morning because of President Park's tight schedule." He reported the incident to Chief of Staff Huh Tae-yeol, who was in Korea at the time, from Los Angeles, the last stop in the presidential trip, immediately before returning to Korea.

Cheong Wa Dae officials said, "A police investigation is inevitable, since a report has been made. He can either be summoned and investigated in the United States or return to Korea, but an investigation is unavoidable," virtually demanding that Yoon return to Korea.

At the time, Cheong Wa Dae gave a false explanation saying, "An urgent family matter has come up," when explaining the cause of Yoon's hasty return, and also said that the decision to return was the personal decision of the former spokesperson.

The measures Cheong Wa Dae opted for after Yoon's return were nothing befitting the presidential office. On May 11, Yoon held a press conference and denied the allegations and claimed that he returned to Korea on the orders of his boss, Senior Secretary Lee.

Senior Secretary Lee later met with reporters and argued, "I don't remember 100%, but I did not tell him he should return." Jeon Gwang-sam, a senior administrator at Cheong Wa Dae's press office responded emotionally saying, "If he [former spokesperson Yoon] has nothing to hide, he can head for the States now and cooperate with the investigation."

On Cheong Wa Dae's initial excuse for Yoon's rushed return, he carelessly said, "We couldn't tell the truth at the time." Cheong Wa Dae tried to turn this incident into Yoon's personal problem. Despite the unprecedented scandal--allegations of sexual harassment by the spokesperson and the diplomatic humiliation--during a presidential trip, Cheong Wa Dae does not seem to be aware of the gravity of the situation.

The apology released in the name of Senior Secretary Lee on May 10 simply stated, "We apologize to the president and our citizens," revealing such a naive attitude. The lack of insight by the presidential staff, who did not want to disturb the president and wanted only to avoid responsibility, worsened the situation.

Eventually, Chief of Staff Huh released a public apology at Cheong Wa Dae on May 12 saying, "There can be no excuses to our improper actions; we are absolutely at fault. We are extremely sorry and deeply apologize for the misconduct. We express our sincere apology to our citizens, the victim and her family, and all Koreans overseas."

On May 10, immediately after Senior Secretary Lee returned to Korea, he took full responsibility for the incident and submitted his resignation to Chief of Staff Huh. Huh has also expressed his intent to take responsibility for this matter, depending on how the situation progresses.