Korea's Sexual Exploitation Runs Deeper than One Man

By David Tizzard

South Korea breathed a sigh of relief after the Seoul District Court found a 25-year-old male named Cho Ju-bin guilty of running an online platform which had forced girls, 16 of whom were under the age of consent, into a series of degrading and humiliating acts so as to make money in a pay-to-view operation that reportedly had more than 10,000 members.

Cho was sentenced to 40 years for violating laws protecting children from sexual abuse and for running a criminal ring which produced illicit material for profit. Five other people were also found guilty and received sentences ranging from seven to fifteen years ― the names of these criminals weren't revealed, however.

And so that's it? Korea has locked up the big bad wolf and now society will be a safer place for everyone involved?

Unfortunately not. While it was a pleasant surprise to see an appropriately strict punishment handed down, for anyone paying attention to the prevalence and continued lenient responses to sex crimes in the country ― both on and offline ― Cho's sentence was something of an anomaly.

People in South Korea, particularly women, have been rightly frustrated, angered, and dumbfounded by the justice system's continued refusal to treat sex crimes with the seriousness and attention they deserve. For too long we have heard stories of “boys will be boys,” “he has a promising future,” “think of his family,” and “we should not affect his position at one of the country's chaebols”.

Sympathy for the devil(s), indeed.

Attention was forever on the culprits while the idea of serving justice for the victims and protecting their rights was routinely ignored. Call it patriarchy, call it the result of an androcentric society, call it whatever you like: it was wrong and it had to change.

I think, however, there should be concern that this recent ruling is but another example of the court of public sentiment in South Korea, run on whim, influence and gusts of popular feeling. Essentially, when attention is focused on a case, the punishment will be exaggerated and carried out mercilessly. But at other times, it will be brushed under the carpet and liable to abuse by the rich, powerful, and influential.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not suggesting that Cho's punishment is not correct. It absolutely is. But I'm more concerned about the “previous” case and the “next” case. What happens when media and public attention is elsewhere?

The same thing happens with suicide in the country and is something I've continually addressed in the press. Everyone makes a big song and dance when a high profile figure ends their life, often amidst a series of controversies, but says nothing when regular people make as equally tragic a decision every day of the week and contribute to the country having had one of the OECD's highest suicide rates for the past two decades.

All the media outlets are now reporting on Cho's story, domestic and international, from the BBC to Al Jazeera. But what happens when a different story hits the news cycle and people don't care about the safety of young women in Korean society anymore and no-one's got their pitchforks out in front of the court?

Do we just forget about it for a few months until the next damning set of figures are released and someone writes an op-ed in the New York Times? It doesn't take much research and a whole load of statistics to demonstrate that digital sex crimes are ridiculously prominent here. They are not going anyway regardless of how many years the court gives Cho.

I would rather long-term sustainable solutions that addressed the deep root of the problem were sought. The problem is bigger than one man and his cronies. To pretend otherwise is either ignorant or negligent.

There are now government departments, NGOs, and activists seeking to highlight and address these necessary changes. I've worked with some of them. But it often feels like they are fighting an uphill battle.

Citizens of this country need to have trust and confidence in the courts. They need to be able to believe that even when no-one's looking, the law will be applied correctly, consistently, and fairly. That trust, particularly on these issues, has been missing for too long.

If the law is to work, it has to work every day, without consideration for socio-economic status or media attention. If God is dead and we've killed him, we can at least all be equal before the law. If we don't have that, what are we left with then?

So the worry is that Cho will be punished, society will celebrate, and then everything will go back to the way it was before. But we have to remember that what was before was not acceptable. Cho is a symbol of the problem not the root cause.

Remember earlier this year when South Korea turned down American extradition requests for Son Jong-woo, the operator of the world's largest child sexual exploitation market by content and controller of the site “Welcome to Video” which contained more than 250,000 videos of minors? Seoul's High Court refused the extradition request on the grounds that he had already served 18 months in a Korean prison for possession and distribution of child pornography.

So, yeah, lock up Cho for as long as you want. I fully support it. But it won't mean a thing in the long-run if it's not more far-reaching that. The sexual exploitation of women in this country runs deeper than one man.

Dr. David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University. He discusses the week's hottest issues on TBS eFM (101.3FM) on "Life Abroad" live every Thursday from 9:35 a.m. to 10 a.m.