South Korean police on Wednesday said they wanted to interrogate the wife of Belgian Ambassador Peter Lescouhier after they received a complaint about an alleged assault on a staff member in a clothing store.
Footage from a security camera shows a woman slapping a shopkeeper who tried to stop her from approaching a colleague. The colleague suspected that she was trying to leave the store with a garment for which she did not pay.
The video of the April 9 incident appeared on social media this week, prompting an angry reaction from some South Koreans who apologized to the Belgian embassy.
The footage also shows Xiang Xueqiu talking to two police officers at the scene. Since then, police have not been able to contact her and say it was because Xiang was in the hospital.
Reuters could not identify the hospital and could not immediately reach her for comment on the alleged incident.
“Police sent to the scene have identified her as the wife of the Belgian ambassador,” said a police officer at a police station in Yongsan, an area of the capital where the embassy and shop are located.
“We attended her, but as you can see in local media, she can not be reached as she is in hospital.”
The South Korean Foreign Ministry told Reuters it had requested the Belgian embassy to cooperate on the matter and that it would take appropriate action based on further police investigation.
The Belgian embassy in Seoul confirmed that Xiang had been admitted to hospital, but did not comment further. A spokesman for the Belgian Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
Some South Koreans have expressed frustration over what they believe were unfair privileges for diplomats and their families.
“I do believe that diplomatic immunity is important and should be respected, but if the incident is taken into account, the ambassador’s family … the ambassador must apologize officially,” Lee Hyun-koo (32) told Reuters said.
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