駐韓ベルギー大使夫人が店員に暴行、夫が謝罪

【ソウルＡＦＰ＝時事】駐韓ベルギー大使夫人が韓国ソウルの衣料品店で店員２人に暴行を加えた事件について、同大使が２２日、謝罪した。（写真は資料写真）
　大使夫人が商品を試着した後店を出たところ、店員が後を追い、着ている服について尋ねたことがきっかけとされる。韓国ＳＢＳ放送が報じた防犯カメラの映像には、大使夫人が店員の腕を引っ張って頭を殴り、さらに仲裁に入った別の店員の顔を平手打ちする場面が映っていた。
　ＳＢＳによると、映像は「サービス業の労働者に対してこのような事件が二度と起こらないように」という願いを込めて提供されたものだという。
　この事件に対し韓国で怒りが広がっており、聯合ニュースによると、外務省はベルギー大使館に警察への協力を要請した。
　在韓ベルギー大使館のフェイスブックへの２か国語での投稿によると、ピーター・レスクイエ大使はこの事件を極めて遺憾に思っており、夫人に代わって謝罪を望んでいる。「いかなる状況であろうと、夫人の行動は許されない」
　メディアは夫人の名前を「相雪秋」と報じている。大使夫人には外交特権があるが、ベルギー大使館によると、夫人は警察に協力する意向だが、先週脳卒中で入院し、現在も治療中でまだ協力できていないという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/04/23-12:43）

Belgium's ambassador to South Korea apologised Thursday after footage showed his wife hitting two boutique staff in the head in a row over shoplifting.
The envoy's wife tried on items in the Seoul store before walking out, prompting an assistant to run after her to ask about an item she was wearing and reportedly triggering the confrontation.
CCTV camera footage broadcast by South Korea's SBS showed her pulling at one employee's arm and hitting her in the head, before slapping another worker who tried to intervene across the face.
The footage had been provided to it in the hope that such an incident never recurs against workers in (the) service sector, SBS said.
The incident caused widespread anger in highly law-abiding South Korea, with Yonhap news agency reporting that a foreign ministry official had urged the Belgian embassy to cooperate with police.
Ambassador Peter Lescouhier sincerely regrets the incident involving his wife, the embassy said in a bilingual Facebook post, adding that he wants to apologise on her behalf.
No matter the circumstances, the way she reacted is unacceptable.
Media reports named her as Xiang Xueqiu.
As the wife of an ambassador, she enjoys diplomatic immunity but the embassy said she would cooperate with police.
She had been unable to do so as yet as she was hospitalised last week after suffering a stroke and remained under medical care, it added.
We hope her health will improve quickly, so she will soon be able to assist with the police investigation, so we can all put this regrettable incident behind us, it said.