<Anchor> In



Japan, reports have emerged that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who is equivalent to the Speaker of the National Assembly, has continuously sexually harassed female reporters and officials.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives denied that she was groundless, but her scandal has not subsided.



Correspondent Park Sang-jin, Tokyo.



<Reporter> This



is an article from a Japanese weekly magazine.



House Speaker Hosoda called the reporters and said she was prevented from further testifying about the sexual harassment she had committed.



"She was not reported under her real name," she said, putting pressure on her.



Previously, this weekly magazine continuously reported allegations of sexual harassment by Chairman Hosoda for two weeks.



She insisted on calling the reporters in charge of her late at night, saying that she made sexually harassing remarks such as "would you like to come home" and "I will just sleep next to you".



One female watchdog even testified that Chairman Hosoda touched her own body.



Chairman Hosoda, 79, was an 11-term member of the National Assembly and served as chairman of the party's majority, the Abe faction.



The Japanese National Assembly was turned upside down.



[Kiyi/Constitutional Democratic Party member: I think that we need to order a third party to check the facts regarding the report of the chairman's allegation of sexual harassment.]



[Kishida/Prime Minister of Japan: I think the parliament may think about it.]



Chairman Hosoda He countered that the allegations raised were groundless and would review the lawsuit with the media.



[Hosoda/Chairman of the House of Representatives of Japan: I have sent a letter of protest (to the press), and there has been no change of position.

(Is it groundless?) There is no change.]



Chairman Hosoda received criticism from the public at a fundraising party last month when he said that the salary of a member of the National Assembly was only 10 million won.



The Japanese opposition party is planning to submit a resolution of no confidence in the chairman, so the wave is not likely to subside easily.