The state human rights watchdog is set to announce the results of its investigation into former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's alleged sexual abuse of a secretary as early as this week.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has been looking into allegations Park sexually harassed the former municipal government employee over several years until his death in an apparent suicide in July.

The results will be discussed during a plenary meeting of the watchdog's members on Monday, according to the commission.

Depending on whether there is an agreement on the results, the commission could announce them the same day or wait until the next meeting in February.

The former secretary submitted a petition to the commission early this month, stating her hopes for the results of the investigation. Police concluded their own probe without seeking any indictments last month.

"I ask (the commission) to put to rest the confusion in our society by determining the facts not for the purpose of punishing someone, but for the purpose of saving someone's life," she wrote.

Earlier this month, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced a former municipal official to 3 1/2 years in prison for raping the same woman.

In the first such acknowledgement, the court said the woman suffered "significant mental pain" as a result of Park' sexual harassment but laid the blame for her posttraumatic stress disorder on the former official. (Yonhap)