"Sexual Assault" is the BuzzWord of the Month

For better or worse, news of sexual assault have been very... prominent in Korean entertainment lately. There's Open World Entertainment's CEO Jang Seok Woo's predations on trainees. There's Go Young Wook's predations on underage trainees. There's Co-Ed's Kangho's unjust accusations of being a rapist resurfacing again. Most recently, Park Si Hoo is embroiled in a rape lawsuit that looks pretty much like a guilty charge. You can take a look through our colleague Asian Junkie's articles on the whole thing if you're unfamiliar with it all since I doubt we over here at AKF will dive into all that anytime soon because there's plenty of coverage.

Anyway, what caught MY attention was how quickly the whole idea of sexual assault has become a joke to Korean media. Why, you ask? Take a look at the recent media play made by Sunny Day's entertainment company.

According to a report from Joy News, a man in his 40s was arrested for sexually harassing Sunny Days‘ Jung Soo Jung on the subway.

On February 20 at around 10:40 PM, officers from the Seocho station were dispatched because of reports coming in from nearby passengers. The offender ‘A’ has been reported to have groped the singer three times on her backside. In the police report that was filed, she testified, “He groped me 3 times intentionally, so I was humiliated.”

However, ‘A’ denied the accusations by claiming, “I do admit that my hand brushed her, but it was not intentional.” The police are currently reviewing the CCTV footage installed inside the subway cars.

If you take the Allkpop article at face value, then it's a terrible thing that Jung Soo Jung was sexually harassed on the subway. But, the whole article was not translated fully. Our collegues over at Netizen Buzz have the full story:

Soojung claimed that she was on the subway on the night of the 20th when a man in his 40s touched her butt three times in a row. The man, A, claimed that he admits his hand brushed against her but that it was an accident and there was no intent. Police are currently checking CCTV footage. 

The article ends with the sentence, "Vocal idols Sunny Days debuted last May and member Soojung is particularly known for her nickname of 'G Cup Girl'. The group is currently preparing for a comeback in March."

Sunny Days' agency said, "Soojung is under a lot of stress so we have decided to delay the groups' schedule and comeback."

Well shit, that doesn't sound like a simple reporting on poor Jung Soo Jung's alleged sexual harassment but more like an opportunity to make a media play for Sunny Days' comeback which was apparently in March. If the article was written with the sole intent to report on the sexual harassment, why the hell would we need to know that Soo Jung's nickname is "G Cup Girl" or that their impending comeback was delayed as a result of this incident? Why would the press release also include these new photos of her on top of all that?

Not only is all of that wildly inappropriate, it immediately trivializes the incident and sends the message that even sexual assault is open for media play. Who the fuck needs some hidden talent or exorbitant use of money on an MV if all we need to do is play the pity card and hype up a sexual predation instead?

Not only that, it also throws the whole incident into question. Was she REALLY sexually harassed, or was it just something blown out of proportion for media play? We won't ever know for sure, and for people to have to speculate over the whole thing and how the media have made light of a serious topic is frankly disgusting.

I don't like it one bit. Maybe I'm just over-reacting, but this is just a new low for Korea's shitty excuse for journalism.