"MeToo Killed Someone..." Victims of 'Jomin-gi MeToo' Appeal Against Secondary Harm

Photo by JTBC, capture from 'Lee Gyu-yeon's Spotlight'

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] Sexual violence victims of the late actor Jo Min-gi, who was accused as a 'Me Too' perpetrator and subsequently took his own life, have spoken out about suffering secondary victimization.

On the 30th, JTBC's 'Lee Kyu-yeon's Spotlight' aired stories from the victims of the Jo Min-gi Me Too case.

The Me Too case came to light in March 2018 when students from the Department of Theater at Cheongju University, where Jo Min-gi was a professor, made public allegations. At that time, Jo Min-gi issued an apology statement and then took his own life before the police investigation, passing away.

In the broadcast, one victim said, "I remember exactly the day I heard about Jo Min-gi's death," adding, "I think I will never forget it for the rest of my life."

She continued, "If I were to point out the most painful period for me, it would be my daily life after his death."

This victim explained the abuse, saying, "During class, under the pretext of directing, Jo Min-gi touched the inside of my thigh. When I tried to avoid it, he hit me with his fist."

Another victim claimed, "He held my hand, touched my legs, and stroked my back. He said I should meet an older man," adding, "He told me to use me to practice those things. This went on for four years."

The victims expressed that they suffered secondary victimization after Jo Min-gi's death.

One victim appealed, "Every day, 24 hours a day, I saw comments saying Me Too killed him, and I kept thinking, 'Did I really cause his death?'"

She added, "I collected evidence for secondary victimization lawsuits, including threatening anonymous messages like 'Be careful at night,' and 'We will do something to you.' To gather that evidence, I had to read the comments, sometimes hundreds or thousands a day, and collected all of them. But in the end, I did not sue the secondary perpetrators."

She continued, "Because I thought, 'What if someone else dies?', 'What if someone else dies again?' Even though I know well that we did not kill him, I had those thoughts."

She also said, "A supervisor at my workplace once asked me, 'How do you feel now that (the perpetrator) is dead?' I said, 'It’s hollow,' and just ran away," adding, "At that moment, I had only seen those words on a screen. When someone who knows me said what anonymous people say, it really felt like the world was collapsing."

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