A Seoul court ordered former South Chungcheong Province Governor Ahn Hee-jung and the provincial government to pay damages to Kim Ji-eun, Ahn's former assistant and victim of sexual assault.

During a civil trial on Friday, the Seoul Central District Court ordered Ahn to pay 30 million won, or around 22-thousand U.S. dollars, and for the former governor and South Chungcheong Province to jointly cover 53-point-47 million won in compensation.

The decision comes four years after Kim filed the damages suit seeking 300 million won in compensation from Ahn and the province, claiming she had experienced post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) due to Ahn's sexual assault and secondary wrongdoing while at public duty. 

The court found Ahn liable for both counts. It recognized that Kim has developed PTSD due to the defendants' actions, adding that Ahn has admitted to abetting his then-spouse's secondary wrongdoing against Kim, while the province is liable under the State Compensation Act.

The Supreme Court had upheld a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Ahn over a conviction that he had sexually assaulted Kim and carried out indecent acts against her by using his position as her superior between July 2017 and February 2018.