The wife of the Belgian ambassador to South Korea will exercise her right to diplomatic immunity to avoid an indictment on charges of beating up two boutique employees who chased her as she walked away with an unpaid item. .
The Guardian reports it citing police sources.
The ambassador, Peter Lescouhier, said he "was sincerely sorry for the incident involving his wife" and added that he "would like to apologize for her", but today the Belgian embassy "has made it known that it will retain the right to 'immunity for the ambassador's wife ", a detective reported at the Yongsan police station in downtown Seoul.
The police, however, specified the source, do not intend to continue the case.
South Korea is a signatory to the Vienna Convention, which grants accredited diplomats and their families immunity from criminal prosecution.
Officers questioned the woman earlier this month after the embassy said she would be cooperating with the police.
According to reports, the ambassador's wife tried on clothes at a Seoul store, then walked to the exit with one garment still on, forcing an employee to run after her to ask her for the item back, triggering the woman's reaction. CCTV footage showed her pulling an employee's arm and hitting him in the head, before slapping another person who tried to intervene.