PARIS (AP) _ Dominique Strauss-Kahn has broken his silence four months after a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault, calling his encounter with the woman a ``moral failing‘’ he deeply regrets, but insisting in an interview on French television that no violence was involved.

Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund and a one-time top presidential contender in his native France, also denied using violence against a French writer who claims he tried to rape her in a separate 2003 incident.

Throughout what appeared to be a heavily scripted 20-minute-long interview with French broadcaster TF1 on Sunday, Strauss-Kahn managed to come off as contrite even as the Socialist politician insisted he hadn‘t forced himself on either of the women.

He said his May 14 sexual encounter with Nafissatou Diallo, an African immigrant who claimed that he attacked her when she entered his room in Manhattan’s Sofitel hotel to clean it, ``did not involve violence, constraint or aggression.‘’

Still, he acknowledged, it ``was a moral failing and I am not proud of it. I regret it infinitely. I have regretted it everyday for the past four months and I think I‘m not done regretting it.

It ``was not only an inappropriate relationship, but more than that, it was a failing ... a failing vis-a-vis my wife, my children and my friends but also a failing vis-a-vis the French people, who had vested their hopes for change in me.’‘

Strauss-Kahn resigned from the IMF’s top job in the wake of the scandal. Though he didn‘t rule out a future return to politics, the man once widely regarded as the Socialist party’s best hope at beating France‘s incumbent conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy said he needed to take time to think about his future.

Strauss-Kahn, who had a long-standing reputation as a man with a weakness for sex and women, said the Diallo imbroglio had profoundly changed him.

``I’ve seen the pain that I caused around me and I thought, I thought a lot,‘’ he said. ``That lightness, I‘ve lost it for good.’‘

The interview was more than an extended mea culpa, though. Strauss-Kahn lashed out both at Diallo and, more broadly, at the U.S. justice system, which by allowing him to be paraded handcuffed before cameras he said had irreparably tarnished his image.

``When you are snatched up by the jaws of that machine, you have the impression that it can crush you,’‘ he said. ``I felt that I was trampled on, humiliated, even before I had the chance to say a word,’‘ he said. Under French law, it’s illegal to show suspects in handcuffs.

Strauss-Kahn said that the New York prosecutor _ who dropped all criminal charges against him in the Diallo case last month _ had concluded the maid ``lied about everything.

``Not only about her past, that‘s of no importance, but also about what happened. The (prosecutor’s) report says, it‘s written there, that ’she presented so many different versions of what happened that I can‘t believe a word,’‘’ he said.

He added he suspected financial motives might have been behind Diallo‘s accusations. She has filed a lawsuit against him, but Strauss-Kahn insisted Sunday he wouldn’t negotiate a settlement.

He also proclaimed his innocence in a separate legal battle pitting him against a young French writer and journalist who alleges he tried to rape her during a 2003 interview for a book she was writing.

The writer, Tristane Banon, has maintained she and Strauss-Kahn ended up tussling on the floor during an interview in an empty apartment, with the politician trying to open her jeans and bra and putting his fingers in her mouth and underwear.

``The version that was presented (by Banon) is an imaginary version, a slanderous version,‘’ Strauss-Kahn said, adding that ``no act of aggression, no violence‘’ had taken place between the two.

Because a police investigation into the claims is ongoing, Strauss-Kahn declined to say anything more about the matter. If Paris prosecutors decide to pursue the case, Strauss-Kahn could face a possible trial.

Asked whether he had any intention of returning to politics, Strauss-Kahn said he would ``take time to reflect‘’ and rest before making any decision.

``But all my life was consecrated to being useful to the public good,‘’ he said. ``We will see.‘’

During the interview, Strauss-Kahn praised his wife, Anne Sinclair, former TF1 news anchor andwealthy heiress who he called an ``exceptional woman.‘’

``I wouldn‘t have gotten through it without her,’‘ he said. ``I hurt her, I know, and I’m sorry. But you know that she wouldn‘t have been there for me, by my side, she wouldn’t have supported me in that way if from the very first second she didn‘t know that I was innocent.’‘

Strauss-Kahn also defended the large sums of money spent on his defense in the Diallo case. In addition to his legal team’s fees, Strauss-Kahn was also initially subject to extensive and expensive bond conditions, including security measures estimated at about $200,000 a month, on top of the $50,000-a-month rent on a town house in New York‘s trendy TriBeCa neighborhood.

While he understood that they could seem shocking, ``compared with the daily difficulties that French people face,’‘ he felt he had to do everything within his means to stay out of prison in Riker’s Island, where he had initially been detained for nearly a week.

A small group of demonstrators gathered outside of TF1‘s Paris headquarters Sunday to denounce Strauss-Kahn. The protest was called by two feminist groups.

The AP does not name people who report being sexually assaulted unless they agree to be identified or come forward publicly, as Diallo and Banon have done.

<한글기사>



스트로스-칸, 아내와 佛국민에게 미안.. 성폭력부인



(파리=연합뉴스) 김홍태 특파원 = 도미니크 스트로스-칸(DSK) 전 국제통화기금(IMF) 총재가 프랑스로 귀국한 이후 처음으로 18일(현지시간) 프랑스 언론과  인터뷰 를 갖고 미국 뉴욕 호텔 여종업원과의 성관계에 대해 “부적절한 관계를 넘어 도덕적 으로 실수한 것”이라고 말했다.

그는 또 차기 프랑스 대선 후보가 될 수 없다는 점을 인정하고 사회당 경선에서 어떤 역할도 하지 않을 것임을 밝히면서도 정계복귀 여부는 “시간을 갖고  생각하겠다”고 여운을 남겼다.

스트로스-칸 전 총재는 이날 오후 8시 프랑스 최대의 민영 채널인 TF1 TV  생방 송 뉴스 프로그램에 출연, 뉴욕 소피텔 호텔 여종업원과의 성관계 사실을  시인하면서 “도덕적인 실수로 정말 후회한다. 아내와 자녀, 친구뿐만 아니라 내 안에 변화의 바람을 불어넣어준 프랑스 국민에게도 잘못한 일”이라고 말했다.

그는 20분 동안 진행된 이날 대담 프로에서 그러나 호텔 여종업원을 성폭행하려고 하지 않았으며 폭력을 행사하지도, 강압적인 방법을 쓰지도 않았다“고 거듭 주장했다.

스트로스-칸은 특히 뉴욕 검찰이 문제의 여종업원이 자신의 과거와 일어난 일들에 대해 모두 거짓말을 한다고 결론지었음을 거듭 강조하면서 금전적인 동기가 있었을 것이라고 추정했다.

또 8년 전의 일로 성폭행 미수 혐의로 자신을 고소한 프랑스 여성 작가  트리스탄 바농의 주장에 대해 대해서도 ”상상에서 나온 것으로 어떤 공격도 없었고 폭력도 없었다“면서 그러나 현재 경찰 조사가 진행중인 만큼 더이상 언급하지 않겠다고  말 했다.

스트로스-칸은 내년 대선과 관련, 자신은 더 이상 후보가 될 수 없다는 점을 솔직히 인정하면서 사회당 경선에 관해서도 아무런 역할도 하지 않을 것이라고 강조했 다.

다만, 정계 복귀 여부에 대해서는 ”시간을 갖고 생각해보겠다. 지금은 먼저  휴식을 취하겠다“면서 ”그러나 나의 모든 생애는 공공의 선에 바쳐왔다“고 말해 가능 성을 열어놓는 뉘앙스를 풍겼다.

검은색 정장 차림으로 나온 스트로스-칸 전 총재는 침착하고 동요되지 않는 모습으로 차분하게 대답했으나 뉴욕 호텔 여종업원에 대해 언급할 때에는 다소톤이 높아지기도 했다.

이날 인터뷰를 앞두고 여성단체 회원들이 TF1 방송국 앞에서 시위를 벌이기도 했다.

한편 뉴욕 호텔 여종업원의 프랑스 변호사인 ‘므티보 드 몽브리알’은 스트로스 -칸의 이날 인터뷰와 관련해 ”완전히 잘 통제된 언론조작“이라면서 자신의 의뢰인은 사실에 대해 결코 거짓말을 하지 않았다고 주장했다고 르 피가로 인터넷판이 전했다 .