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| Actor Jo Min-ki was found dead in a parking garage near his home in Seoul on Friday. His funeral took place at the Konkuk University hospital on Sunday. He was accused of molesting several students he taught at the Cheongju University./ Yonhap |
Some voice worries about the campaign, calling it a witch hunt
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Embattled filmmaker Kim Ki-duk is poised to be erased from school textbooks amid fresh revelations he raped female staffers following sexual assaults allegations.
The Ministry of Education requested the school textbook association last week to investigate textbooks that contain descriptions of the award-winning filmmaker.
Kim has been mentioned in some textbooks after he won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice International Film Festival in 2012 as Korean pop music, dramas and films have gained popularity in Asia and other continents after 2000.
Kim is facing rape allegations after the investigative television program "PD Notebook" ran interviews of three actresses who disclosed Kim's sexual misconduct. One of them said she was assaulted by Kim and actor Cho Jae-hyun while they shot a film directed by Kim.
On Friday, a fresh allegation was made about the award-winning director. In an MBC morning television program, a former assistant director who worked with Kim disclosed the filmmaker raped female staff while shooting his films. Kim, who is believed to be in Hong Kong for a new film project, has not responded to the request to confirm whether the fresh allegations are true or not.
Publishing house Three Chairs said on Saturday it would recall the publications written by or which have featured poet Ko Un and South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung following revelations about their sexual misconduct.
This came a day after actor Jo Min-ki, who was accused of sexual assault was found dead in a parking garage near his apartment on Friday. He left a handwritten six-page note in which he apologized to students and his fellow actors for his misconduct.
The tragic end of his life came as a shock.
Some speculated his death could be a turning point of the #MeToo campaign by slowing down the movement and voiced worries about its direction.
"In a democratic state, people have the right to a fair trial and they are not supposed to be judged by the public sentiment," Kim Seon-taek, president of Korean Taxpayers' Association, wrote in his social media account.
Kim claimed the #MeToo movement has been heading in the wrong direction and compared it something akin to "honor killing."
"(Those who are accused of sexual misconduct) are judged by the media and the public, not by the law, and this is against the Constitution," he claimed.
He said victims' revelations and the following reaction from the media took the form of a witch hunt. "We Koreans say one should blame the sin, not the person who committed it. But what we've seen is that the public tries to punish those who did that, not the deed they made," he said.
But some disagree. Kang Hak-jung, a human relations expert and director of the Institute for Family Relations, said Jo's death could discourage the victims from being aggressive toward the offenders.
"I think it's not desirable that his death played a role to put a brake on the movement because the initiative is to make the society a mature, safer place free of sexual crimes," he said. "So, I think the campaign must go on until it achieves the goal."
Bang Gui-hee, a professor at Soongsil Cyber University, said there appears to be several reasons behind Jo's death. It could be extreme repentance or atonement for what he did but there are probably be other drivers. "He was a public figure and fell from grace after several his students claimed they were the victims of his sexual harassment and assaults," she said.
"Economic reason could also be a driver. He could have felt there's nothing he could do for a living. There should be several other factors that caused him to make such an extreme choice. For one, he's an actor and people like him tend to be moodier than others."
The #MeToo allegations have been relentless despite the actor's death partly because of some shameless offenders.
Filmmaker Cho Geun-hyun, who directed "Heungboo: The Revolutionist," has remained silent following allegations he harassed several aspiring actresses. In interviews with aspiring actresses for a music video project, he mentioned the "casting couch" tradition several times in an apparent attempt to encourage the women to trade sexual favors for a role in the project.
Drummer Nam Goong Yeon denied sexual harassment allegations against him. He even threatened to take legal action against the victims. Nam Goong has remained silent since the latest victim made a fresh allegation about his sexual misconduct.
