As many of you probably have, I have seen the mentioned original article among the top five articles for today. As per the article’s goal to spread information, I would like to add on my perspective.
Initially would like to say that I – as the poster – have no way of proofing any legal background while staying anonymous. Plus giving legal advice you’re not qualified to give can lead to legal problems in itself. Therefore, instead of you having to trust me, I will say I have no legal knowledge whatsoever in the form of degrees and we’ll do it in college style and I’ll provide you with a link so you can read the information yourself.
So without further ado, I present you a few points to consider regarding the original article.
First of all I would like to say that a big flaw with the original article is it’s reliance on the US justice system, when the Korean justice system is in fact based on the Japanese justice system and – by extension – close to the justice system of Germany or the UK. This is most evident in the absence of a jury, which you probably have noticed if you’ve watched any legal K-dramas. Of course the perspective makes sense given the poster's background, but do keep in mind that legal systems and laws vary greatly from country to country.
1. “Don’t expect victims to be perfect when the justice system is far from perfect.” And
2. “Anyone can be a victim. Just because someone has a less than perfect past, doesn’t mean they can’t be a victim, or that they were asking for it.”
This is of course perfectly valid and should be common sense. You should not judge a potential victim based on their background or similar factors. I will say however that this is less relevant to Korea, since the various racial tensions do not exist there in the same form. Most of the victims that we do know the background of in the cases pertaining to allkpop, were Korean women.
I would also like to add that this goes for potential perpetrators as well. Just because charges against someone were previously made, if that person was found innocent of said charges, it should not mean that they are innocent or guilty should they be accused a second time. It is a new case and though it can lead to an old case being reinvestigated it does not proof anything just yet.
3. “Victims have the least power. They do not have the power to make the person that victimized them be charged criminally.”
First, it is true that a victim has little influence on a criminal case’s outcome. They can only state the truth and hope that the evidence provided is enough to prove the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt. However, they have the power to bring a case to light or choose not to do so. This is especially true for the victims of sexual assault because of the issue of consent. A person can have what seems like violent sex to outsiders and this can be fine if all parties involved consented. In a criminal case, if the supposed victim says it was consensual, there’s little the court can do. As such, even during a criminal proceeding the victim (or accuser) has power in that, without them, the case is likely to fail. Most courts will additionally take a victim’s decision to not continue seriously because the court does not want to re-victimize or harm the complainant. The accuser could decide to effectively drop the case for various reasons, such as that the victim does not want to see the perpetrator punished anymore, or wants the case to end for psychological reasons, such as the case being stressful for them or out of a desire to move on.[1] And as for attorneys dropping cases: While this is a problem especially in the US, in the context of this website, it is unlikely that a case against a celebrity would be dropped, due to the public’s interest. Furthermore, if a case is dropped it may be unjust, but if it is due to a lack of evidence, it may actually serve in the innocent party’s favor.
4. Victims not being money-hungry.
Of course, this is also perfectly reasonable. Most victims are sincere, the minority is not, and we have no way of distinguishing between them as mere outsiders.
[1] https://www.davidanber.com/qa/can-a-sexual-assault-charge-be-dropped
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1)The absence of a jury doesn't matter. It's like dragging a completely different matter into it just because you want to prove that she or he is wrong, but the article didn't say anything about it.
2) The argument is very much valid, not for racial reasons but for socioeconomic reasons. Also it's very much valid if you want to look at how foreigners can't seek justice for being raped in SK. There's an documentary about that on youtube that you can watch, it's from Australia 60 minutes. It's also very much about how someone that doesn't look good in societies eyes can be judged even though they are a victim. If you haven't noticed, SK is a very judgmental country.
3) You want to claim that the victim have power just because they can report someone? That's not a lot of power if they dismiss the case. Then what power does the victims have? Just by writing that you assume that the case has been taken to court, which I wrote in a comment on the other article only happens in 7 % of the cases in Sweden. I doubt SK is better with the amount of sexism there are. There are just so many errors in your text, but I would like to correct you on this "it is unlikely that a case against a celebrity would be dropped, due to the public’s interest". It isn't up to the public whether or not the victim decides to pursue the case.
Also it's not illegal to write how the system works "giving legal advice you’re not qualified to give can lead to legal problems in itself"...
I'd like to give you an advice to at least double check what you write before publishing anything. It can become very embarrassing to realize that everything is wrong.
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