Harassment incidents hit literary circle
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Novelist Park Bum-shin apologized for his sexual jokes. / Korea Times file
Poet, novelist apologize for misdeeds
Poet Park Jin-seong
By Kwon Mee-yoo
One after another, famed male writers and artists — including poet Park Jin-seong, 38, novelist Park Bum-shin, 70, and curator Ham Young-jun, 38 — have been accused of sexually harassing women, abusing their position. Despite their respective apologies, the incidents raised the deep-seated issue of a male-oriented cultural world, beyond the individual crimes.
Following the series of harassment incidents, the Writers Association of Korea (WAK) issued a statement Monday saying that it will take action against its members accused of sexual crimes, including poet Park and novelist Park.
“It is terrible that our members are associated with sexual harassment. If the rumors turn out to be true, we will take disciplinary action against them for degrading the association,” WAK wrote.
Novelist Park decided to postpone publication of his latest book which was to be released at the end of October.
Most of the cases were reported through social media including Twitter using hashtags such as “#sexual_violence_in_cultural_circle.” The hashtags call out sexual harassment caused by gender hierarchies in various fields of culture, making the old-established issue surface.
“Sexual abuse is often committed by powerful and influential males or groups, so it is difficult for an individual victim to step up and take action against it. The hashtags created a solidarity among victims, confirming the incidents resulting from structural problems in the industry,” sociology professor Lee Jin-kyung said.
Women’s studies scholar KwonKim Hyun-young attributed the series of spontaneous confessions of sexual victims to the increasing sense of women’s consciousness.
“From comedian Jang Dong-min’s sexist remarks to the Gangnam Station murder, these sparked discussions on women’s status in Korea. Women recognize that misogyny and sexual harassment are rampant in Korea as a social phenomenon, not personal problems, and started to take collective action,” KwonKim said.
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