How literary world, not show business, became epicenter of #MeToo earthquake

By Kang Hyun-kyung

A social media-driven collective action to bring down sexually abusive men occurred in Korea in October 2016, a year before the #MeToo movement hit Hollywood like an earthquake.

Unlike America, in Korea the shame-based initiative began in literary circles, not in the film industry in which the notorious “casting couch” tradition originated. The decades-old practice refers to aspiring actresses’ trade of sexual favors in order to find a role in the film industry.

“Many of us believe the campaign to purge abusive men is a made-in-U.S. idea that began in Hollywood later in 2017,” said Oh Yoon-sung, a professor at Sun Chun Hyang University. “This is misleading. Here in Korea there already existed a sort of collective action to shame sexual harassers even before the similar campaign spread in Hollywood.”

Korea’s version of the #MeToo movement began later in 2016 with serial sexual harassment allegations against renowned novelist Park Bum-shin.

Silence breakers were aspiring writers and former staffers of publishing houses who had worked closely with the 70-year-old author of several bestsellers. Their revelations were shocking.

According to them, there’s a social hierarchy between high-profile writers, such as Park, and publishing houses and the latter has to curry favor with their key clients.

Abusive relationships also exist between writers and aspiring writers who hone their writing skills under the supervision of the former.

Those who are familiar with the literary world say violent language and eccentric behavior have long been part of literary circles.

Bang Gui-hee, publisher of Sotdae Literature, a quarterly periodical for disabled novelists and poets, said she’s a victim of verbal violence by poet Ko Un, who was hit hard after serial revelations about his sexual misconduct came out.

“He was straightforward and asked me when I became a cripple,” she said, mentioning her first encounter with the poet who later became considered a possible candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Because of polio, she cannot use her legs and requires a wheelchair to get around.

“I was then in my early 30s. What he said was shocking because no one had asked such an intrusive question to me ... He then asked if I had a boyfriend. When I said no, he said you indeed are a physical and mental cripple,” she said.

Bang said she was emotionally hurt but didn’t confront the poet because such inappropriate use of words happened back then.

She said poets and writers considered themselves “literary free spirits” and they abused freedom of expression.

A decadent lifestyle has long been the dominant culture of literary circles, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. Literary people considered those who were bound by social norms and ethics “chicken” and for them crossing the line or going too far verbally was something akin to being chic or sophisticated.

In 2016, revelations about novelist Park Bum-shin’s sexual harassment had gone viral after a social media user, who identified herself as a former editor of a publishing company, disclosed secrets of the star writer.

She alleged Park sexually harassed seven women who drank alcohol with him at a bar in Seoul in April 2014.

“Seven of us were there with him and the daytime hangout was arranged upon Park’s request,” she wrote. According to the undisclosed silence breaker, the novelist sexually harassed the seven women all during their outing that lasted three hours. “He touched the woman next to him on her shoulder, waist, thigh and hands,” she wrote. “I couldn’t stop him from harassing her and others... He was a famous writer. I didn’t want to lose my job.”

In a media interview, Park denied the allegation. He said he had no clear memory of the daytime hangout, but he didn’t want to argue about the claim. “I am an old man and was unable to fathom how they would have felt about my behavior. If there’s anyone who was hurt by my unintended words and behavior, I am sorry for that.”

His statement, however, didn’t stop revelations about his inappropriate behavior.

Another undisclosed social media user, who also previously worked with a publishing house, broke the silence about Park.

At a book publishing event in 2014, she said she was encouraged to sit next to Park.

“Park told me his habit is watching high school girls, so whenever he has free time he would park his car near a street crowded with teenage girls and look closely at their school uniforms and thighs,” she wrote.

Poets and writers, including Bae Yong-je, Lee Yi-cha and Hwang Byung-sng, were also hit hard by the campaign. Some of them admitted to their misconduct and posted their apology on social media.

The campaign, however, gradually lost momentum as the nation was engulfed and rocked by the Choi Soon-sil corruption scandal, which cut President Park Geun-hye’s tenure in the presidency short.

As the nation was back to normal following the change of government, the #MeToo campaign has resumed and gone viral again.

Prosecutor Seo Ji-hyeon’s disclosure about her traumatic sexual harassment experience, which happened eight years ago, was a milestone event that facilitated other victims to speak out about their experiences.

Serial sexual assault and harassment in literary circles were back in the spotlight after poet Choi Young-mi revealed renowned poet Ko Un’s eccentric behavior.

She claimed he is a habitual sexual harasser and has plenty of victims.

The literary circles have an activism base that was built in the 1990s which saw an increasing number of female writers. Through their works, some of them fought sexual injustice which is the byproduct of misogyny in the literary world. Choi was one of the vocal activist poets who confronted sexual misconduct in the literary world.

Although their endeavor didn’t bear fruit in the 1990s, their works later sowed seeds for change in the status of female writers. Silence breakers came against the backdrop.

People in the literary world are “devastated” as shocking revelations about some high-profile male authors were raised and fresh allegations are made almost every day, a critic said on condition of anonymity.

In the long run, she said silence breakers would help end the dysfunctional male-dominated culture in literary circles.

She said the #Me Too campaign is a phenomenon partly driven by a generational rift.

“Silence breakers are females in their 20s or 30s,” she said. “These younger women were educated to say no to any sexual misconduct or confront such attempts. But male writers in their 50s or older are unaware what they do as usual could constitute sex crimes, so they unconsciously cross the line. The gap between awareness of the younger women and the older men is the source of the friction.”