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 the male-oriented cultural world beyond individual crimes.
Following the series of harassment incidents, the Writers Association of Korea issued a statement Monday that it will take action against its members related to sexual crimes, including poet Park and novelist Park.
"It is terrible that our members are associated with sexual harassment cases. If the rumors turn out to be true, we will take disciplinary action against them for degrading the association," the association wrote.
Novelist Park decided to postpone publication of his latest book which was to be released by the end of October.
Most of the cases are 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 mushrooming 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 of 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 sexism remarks to the Gangnam Station murder sparked discussions on women's status in Korea. Women recognize that misogyny and sexual harassment are rampant in Korea as social phenomenon, not personal problems, and started to take collective action," KwonKim said.