By Kim Tong-hyung
Here's your midweek update on stories in entertainment and media that you might have missed while reading about how the spy agency attempted to influence the presidential elections, ended up trolling the Internet lumpen instead, Iran's new president, or because your life is undoubtedly a lot more fulfilling than ours.
So, it's her fault
The government is vowing stronger punishment on sex offenses. As a start, the Justice Ministry has rewritten the law to allow law enforcement authorities to investigate and prosecute sex criminals without a complaint filed from the victim.
But were loose laws ever much of a problem because the majority of our obtuse police officers are regressive enough to claim that some female victims simply had it coming?
The Korea Women's Development Institute recently quizzed some 200 police officers in South Gyeongsang Province cities over their thoughts on sex crimes against women and the results were disturbing.
About 54 percent of the respondents supported the view that women who wear revealing clothing are somehow culpable in any attacks on them. Around 37 percent of them felt the same about women who drink and 21 percent about women walking alone at night. And 24 percent said they found it difficult to believe a victim when they don't report the incident right away.
This is amazingly wrong. For readers who were born yesterday, statistics that show women are more likely to be sexually assaulted by the people they know. So wearing long sleeves and counting your drinks at night would be unlikely to prevent a crime that predominantly happens in the home of a victim or predator.
Maybe this was why the police used to knock over street food stalls all the time. How dare they invite food thieves with their delicious smelling fish sticks?
Empowering bullies
The only government employees who can rival police officers in terms of stupidity seem to be education authorities. When attempting to think outside of the box to combat schoolyard bullying, they briefly left the realm of thinking entirely.
The Education Ministry is expected to announce a comprehensive strategy to stamp out bullying at schools next week. Among the plans that were apparently considered was arm-banding some bullies and empower them to muscle out other bullies by patrolling areas where beatings most frequently take place.
''There was criticism that we were relying too much on punishments and the students were punished too harshly or relocated to other schools … We believe we can reduce school violence by encouraging pride and self-esteem in students who have been misguided by entrusting them with the responsibility to patrol the school and nearby areas,'' a senior ministry official told Newsis.
''While there are worries that empowering former bullies to prevent school bullying would be a dangerous decision, our observations at suggest that this would be an effective way to reduce school violence.''
Well, at least it's reasonable to assume that letting bullies detect bullies will reduce the number of ''reported'' school beatings.
After the Newsis report touched off a firestorm of social media comments, the Education Ministry quickly issued a statement saying bullies-with-armbands will never be introduced.
Kim Gura is back
Snarky comedian and television emcee Kim Gura returned to the popular MBC television talk show Radio Star after a year-long hiatus. He left the show in April last year following a belated controversy over his inappropriate comments about Korean sex slaves during World War II he made in the past.
In his comeback appearance last Wednesday, Kim, who displays a condescending brand of humor that has been emulated but not quite duplicated by other Korean funnymen, didn't seem to be completely back in terms of verbal fitness.
His comments weren't as snappy and he frequently allowed himself to be the butt of the jokes of the show's other hosts and the always delightful Hong Jin-yeong, the singer who appeared as a guest.
Here's hoping that Kim gets back into shape quickly. The nation needs to see other television hosts than the predictable and boring Yoo Jae-suk, a product of the Ryan Seacrest School of bleached personalities, and the cloying and annoying Kang Ho-dong, whose animated delivery should be legally confined to ADHD television.
Here's your midweek update on stories in entertainment and media that you might have missed while reading about how the spy agency attempted to influence the presidential elections, ended up trolling the Internet lumpen instead, Iran's new president, or because your life is undoubtedly a lot more fulfilling than ours.
 |
| According to the logic of some Korean police, this woman is inviting trouble. / Korea Times file |
So, it's her fault
The government is vowing stronger punishment on sex offenses. As a start, the Justice Ministry has rewritten the law to allow law enforcement authorities to investigate and prosecute sex criminals without a complaint filed from the victim.
But were loose laws ever much of a problem because the majority of our obtuse police officers are regressive enough to claim that some female victims simply had it coming?
The Korea Women's Development Institute recently quizzed some 200 police officers in South Gyeongsang Province cities over their thoughts on sex crimes against women and the results were disturbing.
About 54 percent of the respondents supported the view that women who wear revealing clothing are somehow culpable in any attacks on them. Around 37 percent of them felt the same about women who drink and 21 percent about women walking alone at night. And 24 percent said they found it difficult to believe a victim when they don't report the incident right away.
This is amazingly wrong. For readers who were born yesterday, statistics that show women are more likely to be sexually assaulted by the people they know. So wearing long sleeves and counting your drinks at night would be unlikely to prevent a crime that predominantly happens in the home of a victim or predator.
Maybe this was why the police used to knock over street food stalls all the time. How dare they invite food thieves with their delicious smelling fish sticks?
 |
| Somebody give this dude an armband. / Korea Times |
Empowering bullies
The only government employees who can rival police officers in terms of stupidity seem to be education authorities. When attempting to think outside of the box to combat schoolyard bullying, they briefly left the realm of thinking entirely.
The Education Ministry is expected to announce a comprehensive strategy to stamp out bullying at schools next week. Among the plans that were apparently considered was arm-banding some bullies and empower them to muscle out other bullies by patrolling areas where beatings most frequently take place.
''There was criticism that we were relying too much on punishments and the students were punished too harshly or relocated to other schools … We believe we can reduce school violence by encouraging pride and self-esteem in students who have been misguided by entrusting them with the responsibility to patrol the school and nearby areas,'' a senior ministry official told Newsis.
''While there are worries that empowering former bullies to prevent school bullying would be a dangerous decision, our observations at suggest that this would be an effective way to reduce school violence.''
Well, at least it's reasonable to assume that letting bullies detect bullies will reduce the number of ''reported'' school beatings.
After the Newsis report touched off a firestorm of social media comments, the Education Ministry quickly issued a statement saying bullies-with-armbands will never be introduced.
 |
| Kim Gura |
Snarky comedian and television emcee Kim Gura returned to the popular MBC television talk show Radio Star after a year-long hiatus. He left the show in April last year following a belated controversy over his inappropriate comments about Korean sex slaves during World War II he made in the past.
In his comeback appearance last Wednesday, Kim, who displays a condescending brand of humor that has been emulated but not quite duplicated by other Korean funnymen, didn't seem to be completely back in terms of verbal fitness.
His comments weren't as snappy and he frequently allowed himself to be the butt of the jokes of the show's other hosts and the always delightful Hong Jin-yeong, the singer who appeared as a guest.
Here's hoping that Kim gets back into shape quickly. The nation needs to see other television hosts than the predictable and boring Yoo Jae-suk, a product of the Ryan Seacrest School of bleached personalities, and the cloying and annoying Kang Ho-dong, whose animated delivery should be legally confined to ADHD television.
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