Admit It, Your K-Pop Idols Can Be Terrible Human Beings Too

In South Korea, the #MeToo movement had a late start. The campaign, which exploded on Twitter in October following a series of sexual harassment accusations against Harvey Weinstein, encourages women everywhere to open up about their experience as victims of sexual abuse, as well as to highlight the misconduct of some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry. In K-Pop, where the die-hard fan culture runs deep, the #MeToo movement struggles.

For as long as I’ve been a fan of K-Pop and K-dramas—roughly a dozen years—there have been multiple cases of sexual harassment in the country's entertainment industry. More often than not, fans chose to neglect the issue. Whether or not fans realize it, many of them are willing to defend their male idols or "oppa" to their death. Tragically, the majority of those fans are women.

Two weeks ago, Tiana*, a friend of mine, messaged me saying how happy she was that the rating of the TV show that her favorite Korean actor stars in reached 20 percent. Tiana is a big fan of Lee Jin Wook, who plays the male lead character in Return.

Here's one thing about Lee Jin Wook. In summer of 2016, he was accused of sexually harassing a woman. In response, Lee Jin Wook sued the woman for making a false accusation. In 2017, the woman was found not guilty, but the verdict was overturned last month, and the woman was sentenced to eight months for prison. The K-Pop fandom is torn in this case. Many believe that their idol is innocent, but others think that the justice system has failed the accuser miserably. Plus, somebody like Lee Jin Wook has the resources to protect himself from going to jail. Not to mention that he’s backed by his agency who will continue to protect him at all costs.

There are several other cases like Lee Jin Wook’s, which ended in uncertainty, leaving more questions than answers. Unfortunately, the trend shows that in the Korean entertainment industry, male stars are able to walk away unscathed to resume their career like normal, while the women who accused them of harassment get punished.

There's Kim Hyun Joong, an actor in the popular TV series Boys Over Flowers. He was accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Then there’s Onew from the boyband SHINee, who has a pending sexual assault case. But the most notorious man in K-Pop has to be Park Yoochun from the group JYJ.

Yoochun is said to have a big role in making K-Pop go global. But he’s also a K-Pop figure with the most sexual harassment accusations to date. He was accused of sexual harassment by four women in 2016. All of the victims said they were forced to have sex with Yoochun in the bathroom of a night club.

One of the victims, known as Ms. Song, cried in court because she felt no one believed her story and people judged that she just wanted to blackmail the singer. Afterwards, Yoochun accused her of defamation. Yoochun’s legal team said it was impossible to have sex in such a small bathroom.

“Sir, do you want to kill me?” said a desperate Song, as quoted in AllKpop. “You haven’t even seen the crime scene, but you tried to stab a knife to my chest.”

In late 2017, both Yoochun and Ms. Song were found innocent, due to a lack of evidence.

Again, fans were divided, though some official fan groups worldwide called others to stop supporting Yoochun in the wake of the cases.

In Indonesia, some still find it hard to believe that their idols really sexually harassed women. I reached out to some local fans of the K-Pop members who were accused of harassment in the last few years. Only Park Si Hoo’s fan account responded.

Park Si Hoo, an actor, was accused of sexual misconduct in 2013, but has been freed of all charges. When I asked the fan account about their opinion on the case, they were

“We were so sad and disappointed about the scandal that we didn’t want to discuss it,” a representative from the account told me. “We have been his fans before 2013 and we still support Park Si Hoo until now. We know that he will be a better actor and person.”

I got the same answer from my friend Herlina*, who is a big fan of JYJ. When Yoochun's case made the news, she was angry at him. But now, after Yoochun resumed shooting for his TV show, she gave in and started liking him again.

I hope that in the future, women who are brave enough to speak up about the harassment they face will get the justice they deserve. I hope the #MeToo movement in Korea continues to gain traction, so fans of Korean celebrities realize that their idols can be really flawed people. K-Pop fans can't just think about their idol’s reputation. They should also think about the victims and support them, because it takes a lot of courage to open up.

Remember what happened to Jang Ja Yeon a few years ago when she was a still a newcomer in the Korean entertainment industry? Ja Yeon, who appeared in Boys Over Flowers, was forced by her agent to perform sexual favors to dozens of Korea’s entertainment executives in exchange so she could advance in the hyper-competitive Korean entertainment industry. She couldn’t handle it, so she committed suicide in 2009 and left a seven-page letter about what happened to her. But despite Ja Yeon’s detailed descriptions of the perpetrators and where the crimes occurred, none of the perpetrators was punished.

This is not only about the weakness of the law in South Korea. It’s also about the fans who are not showing enough support to victims of sexual abuse. This attitude will cause another Ja Yeon in the future. If our handsome idol is accused of sexual misconduct, what we need to say is, “#MeToo, Oppa!”