Documentary on ex-Seoul mayor criticized for causing secondary victimization

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Sat, September 23, 2023 | 13:15

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Documentary on ex-Seoul mayor criticized for causing secondary victimization

Posted : 2023-05-10 17:02

Updated : 2023-05-10 20:28

Seen is the poster for "First Defence," a documentary on the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, released last Tuesday by the film's producing committee Trust Won-soon. The film will hit theaters in July. Courtesy of Trust Won-soon

By Lee Hae-rin

A documentary film on the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who took his own life after being accused of sexual harassment by a former secretary in 2020, is facing a backlash for denying the alleged offence and thus triggering secondary victimization.

Trust Won-soon, the producing committee of the film "First Defense" released a poster for the documentary on its website, May 2, announcing it will hit theaters in July.

The poster, which has an orange semicolon intended to mean "there is more to come," according to the committee, reads in Korean, "The man who defended the world. He is gone, and people who are left will now defend him."

The film is based on a book published in 2021, consisting of interviews by a Korean journalist with the ex-mayor's close aides. The book raised controversies at the time for allegedly causing secondary victimization. The reporter was suspended from work for a month for defaming the news media by releasing information related to the job without consent and profiting from it.

According to the committee, over 4,000 people sponsored the production since the group announced a fundraising campaign on Sunday through a YouTube channel hosted by the acerbic broadcaster Kim Ou-joon. The campaign has collected over 200 million won ($151,043) as of Wednesday.

Kim Jae-ryun, a lawyer representing the former secretary, told The Korea Times, Wednesday, that the film "denies the facts confirmed by state institutions" and accused the committee of causing secondary victimization by producing and promoting the documentary.

In the film's trailer released on April 7, Park's former chief secretary makes an appearance and negates the secretary's testimony. The committee's YouTube channel says, "If people's wish for the truth comes together, it can win over a silence forced under the pretext of 'secondary victimization.'"

Demonstrators concerned for the victim of sexual harassment by Seoul's ex-Mayor Park Won-soon hold a protest at City Hall in this photo taken on July 28, 2020, calling for an investigation by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK). Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

In January 2021, the independent National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) conducted an investigation into the allegations against Park and decided that the ex-mayor's remarks on the victim constituted sexual harassment. The group also recommended the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family protect the alleged victim and take preventive measures to stop the recurrence of sexual abuse within the organization.

Park's widow filed a complaint to cancel the NHRCK's decision, which she said defamed the ex-mayor, but the Seoul Administrative Court dismissed the complaint last November.

"Under such circumstances, who will dare to accuse a person in power of sexual harassment and who will be willing to defend the victim?" the lawyer said, calling for solidarity by "people with common sense" to speak up for victims and condemn secondary victimization.

In June 2020, Park's former secretary filed a sexual harassment complaint against the mayor for touching her numerous times and sending her "inappropriate" messages on Telegram since 2017. She has received fierce criticism from Park's supporters and experienced harassment by online commentators for allegedly pressuring the ex-mayor to take his own life.

Park, a former civic activist and self-proclaimed feminist human rights lawyer, was a three-term Seoul mayor who was considered a potential candidate for the 2022 presidential election, representing the then-ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

lhr@koreatimes.co.kr