"MeToo, Must We Always Speak Out?" Seo Ji-hyun Responds to 'Double Standards' Criticism

Prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon, Intern Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] Prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun, who triggered the domestic 'Me Too movement,' confronted criticism against her on the 28th, questioning whether "'Me Too' means unconditionally expressing opinions on all sexual violence cases."

On that day, Seo wrote on her Facebook, "As expected, no matter what I say, they find fault and try to politicize it or intend to violate the Public Officials Act," expressing her stance.

Earlier on the same day (27th), Seo had stated regarding the late Mayor Park Won-soon's sexual harassment allegations, "Those who usually had no interest in women's rights are obviously forcing me to take sides with a clear political intention, and I have neither the will nor the duty to comply," adding, "I am neither a superhero nor a fighter, nor a politician or a person in power." This was her first statement after a two-week silence on social network services (SNS) following criticism for remaining silent about Mayor Park's allegations.

Some criticized Seo for showing a 'double standard' attitude based on political camps, saying she was withholding comments about Mayor Park's death.

Seo referred to articles criticizing her, saying, "As always, media outlets and reporters omit important parts of my statements or distort them entirely," and pointed out, "Seeing them still trying to create controversy while ignoring the law makes me sigh."

She then questioned, "Has the meaning of double standards changed to 'talking about cases I know and not talking about cases I don't know,' and has 'being political' come to mean 'a public official complying with the National Public Officials Act and refraining from mentioning politicians' cases'?"

She continued, "Does attaching a malicious headline under the guise of an article based on unverified comments constitute defamation or insult?" and warned of legal action, saying, "Although I have explained multiple times, I will take appropriate legal measures against articles that pretend not to understand, are one-sided, insulting, and malicious."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.