hankyoreh

By Choi Sung-jin　

“It is the height of irony. The prosecutors investigated two years ago, and in March, the police also investigated. The people, however, still demand even more truth. To mitigate the structural contradiction of Korean society in which the human rights of female entertainers like Jang Ja-yeon are abused, a proper legal judgment must be made.”

This is the explanation Dongguk University Film and Digital Media Professor Yu Ji-na gave for the convening of a people’s court to look into the Jang Ja-yeon case. The “Late Jang Ja-yeon Case People‘s Court: Voice of Fury,” to be held on the I Like to Walk Street in front of Seoul’s Hongik University at 6:30 p.m. on June 8, will convene with citizen participation a “court of truth” instead of the investigative bodies that were rendered powerless before the powerful, try those named as perpetrators, and ask citizen juries as to their guilt.

The trial is being hosted by four civic organizations: “Beautiful People Breaking the Silence,” a group for the human rights of female entertainers in which Yu participates as a steering committee member; Korean Women‘s Association United; Korean Womenlink’s Media Movement Headquarters; and Munhwa Saesang Iftopia.

Yu said it has been over two years since Jang’s death, and the incident is being forgotten without the assailant being uncovered. In November 2009, Beautiful People Breaking the Silence held a ssitgimgut shaman ceremony to cleanse the soul of a departed person, for Jang to console her soul after her untimely death, and the trial is to uncover the truth behind her death together with the people.

Jang committed suicide on March 7, 2009, leaving behind a document saying she had been coerced by her management company to serve alcohol and have sex with powerful figures in all walks of life in South Korean society. Following the serious allegation, prosecutors merely indicted without detention a Mr. Kim, the former head of the management company, and a Mr. Yu, Jang’s former agent, on charges of assault and defamation, respectively. None of the powerful men named as having been “entertained” by Jang were charged.

Her case came to the fore again thanks to an SBS report on a series of discovered letters in March, but when the National Institute of Scientific Investigation declared the letter a forgery, police closed the case. It remains to be seen how many will be brought to tears with the People‘s Trial amid this brutal reality of the injustice.

“That is why we are doing it. In a way, that Jang’s death became this great of a legal debate could itself be seen as a success. After news that those who received sexual services were being investigated was made known, testimony came from entertainers that they, too, had received offers for sexual services.”

Yu believes that the people‘s trial, with direct citizen participation, can cause another fissure in the “cartel of silence” repressing female entertainers like Jang. She also demanded that the attitude of press reports must change.

“Jang’s death was a problem that had ultimately exploded within the context of Korean society’s twisted sexual culture; the human rights of female entertainers, which had collapsed; and the commercialization of sex. Whether it be investigative reporting, I long for more tenacious coverage and reports from our media.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]