Tokyo Keizai University said it has taken measures following an incident in June in which a Japanese male student was accused of sexually harassing female South Korean students on campus.

"We have tried to deal with the incident openly by reporting the details in school papers and informing the students," Yuzo Itagaki, dean of the university's Department of Communication Studies, said in a recent news conference at the Education Ministry, adding that students are no longer worried about the campus situation.

According to Itagaki, a freshman apparently made sexually suggestive remarks to three female South Korean students who were leaving a classroom at the university's Kokubunji campus June 13. When they told him to apologize, he made fun of their Japanese language ability and said he couldn't understand what they were saying.

A third-year male South Korean student came to help the women, but he and the Japanese student started fighting until university staffers intervened. The incident was reported by the daily Asahi Shimbun in October and by the Mainichi Shimbun earlier this month, as well as by some South Korean newspapers, Itagaki said.

Although the media reports criticized the university for trying to cover up the incident, Itagaki stressed that such criticism is unfounded. He explained that three days after the incident, the university quickly set up a committee to cope with sexual and racial harassment, and advised teachers to take up the issue in their lectures.

The Japanese student was severely admonished and is now attending regular counseling sessions, according to Itagaki. Following the incident, the school drew up guidelines to prevent sexual harassment, conducted a series of seminars on the issue and showed films to educate students as well as teachers on Asian history and culture.

The university also decided to hold an information session in Seoul and Pusan in March to better inform South Korean parents about the university and issues involving foreign students studying in Japan.