Gwangju Jeonnam Women's Groups Urge Stop to Secondary Sexual Violence Victimization of Mokpo Mayor Candidate A

Women’s Group Demands Immediate Halt to Distorting and Criticizing Secondary Harm Behavior

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jeong Seunghyun] Recently, concerns about the spread of secondary damage have arisen following reports of a sexual violence case involving candidate A for the mayoral election of Mokpo, Jeollanam-do.

On the 6th, the Gwangju-Jeonnam Women's Association issued a statement saying that although candidate A for the Mokpo mayoral election was accused of sexual harassment on the 29th of last month, they denied the allegations by mentioning unrelated incidents, calling them false and fabricated.

The Women's Association further criticized that the candidate's side released reports announcing strong legal action and that secondary harm by supporters of A is spreading online.

The association stated, “We deeply recognize that this form of secondary harm stems from the still widespread sexual misconduct issues in our society, the social atmosphere that condones it, and the insufficient gender sensitivity in politics, and we demand an immediate halt to secondary harm,” adding, “Measures must be established to prevent the recurrence of secondary damage to sexual violence victims.”

Additionally, the group warned that some media outlets’ indiscriminate copy-and-paste articles without fact-checking could generate secondary harm related to sexual violence, and they called for adherence to sexual violence reporting guidelines accompanied by gender sensitivity.

The incident was reported around the 30th of last month through a local Mokpo newspaper under the headline “Candidate A for Mokpo mayoral election accused of sexual harassment.”

The accuser is known to have received psychiatric treatment due to shock caused by inappropriate physical contact and explicit remarks when A, who was dining with acquaintances at a restaurant in Naju around May 2019, suggested going to a karaoke room.

Meanwhile, candidate A also distributed a press release on the 30th claiming the incident was an election manipulation and stating a firm response would be taken. The case was initially filed with the Mokpo Police Station but is currently under investigation after being transferred to the Jeollanam-do Police Agency.