This is an English translation of the original 2023/05/01 Break News article, which can be found here.
[Dispute & Clarify – Part 4] Why do I, the author, keep addressing Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok’s sexual assault case in a series of columns?
If you search for “JMS (Jeong Myeong Seok)” on the portal, media outlets and article titles dealing with the sexual assault case of Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok are all piled up.
Among them, the headlines of many media outlets are this: “JMS (Jeong Myeong Seok) had sex with 10,000 women…exceeding the goal.” If you understand this by the title only, it reads as “the number of women raped by JMS (Jeong Myeong Seok) exceeded 10,000.” What if this were true? It would be nonsense: uncivilization in a civilized era.
▲Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok praying ©Break News
Netflix is a huge OTT company targeting people around the world (Over-the-Top-OTT is a VOD [Video on Demand] service that shows broadcasts on various online platforms requested on-demand by users). Netflix has already covered Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok’s sexual assault case. This incident has become world-renowned and a big issue.
I, the author, am discerning with a rational mind about this case, considering that this has become an issue in the global era. Depending on the outcome of the trial for this case, I think this could cause an aversion to Korea: “anti-Korean syndrome” (extreme hatred towards Korea). If a Korean man committed sexual assault (rape) against 10,000 women, what would foreigners in the global era think of Korean men? They would wonder if the Korean society-state tolerates this. And they can interpret this from the perspective that Korea is such an uncivilized society-state.
In addition, the targets of the forced sexual assaults were women. What if the court decides that the forced sexual assaults are true? That could be interpreted exaggeratedly as an incident that reveals the weakness of Korean women. Concerns that Korean women may be frowned upon are on the rise.
There is concern that it will cause hatred towards Korean men and prejudice towards the women. Such concerns are rising in this global era. On the premise of such a thought, I want to point out that it is problematic for this case to exist and remain as a ghostly incident in which even the name list of the victims has not been confirmed.
In the April 27 issue of this magazine (Break News), in a column titled, “Pursuing the Truth Behind the Distortion of JMS Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok’s Sexual Assault Case,” I wrote this: “In the case of US media, when reporting sexual assault cases, the identities of the perpetrator(s) and victim(s) are disclosed. They broadcast the report of incidents accurately. In American terms, if “Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok raped 10,000 people,” then a “victims list” of the 10,000 sexual assault victims, including the names, dates, locations, etc., should be drawn up at the investigation stage, and the list should be handed over to the court.”
But what does it mean that the names of the victims have not been clearly identified in Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok’s sexual assault case? If this case were true, then the list of 10,000 people who were sexually assaulted by Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok should have been made public. That’s why I pointed it out and said, “Such a huge gap is found between the [reported] facts and the reality in the JMS reports related to Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok. Some media reports that said “JMS Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok raped more than 10,000 people” have already spread globally. This content is fictional, but it has been declared as fact. Korea is a democratic country that is said to be one of the best in the world.”
Korea is absolutely not a clumsy country that allows individuals to sexually assault 10,000 people.
Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok raped 10,000 women? Only if the names of the 10,000 people who were raped by Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok were released during the trial would I believe this to be true. This could never happen. Why? This is because this incident is a ghostly event, that is, a distorted incident in which the number of victims is greatly inflated and untrue. Even cows grazing in the fields would laugh at this!
If Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok had raped 10,000 women and this were true, then the list of his 10,000 female sexual assault victims must be made public.
<Afterword> Why am I posting a series of columns about the sexual assault of Pastor Jeong Myeong Seok? It is to urge the media to turn to factual reporting (fact-checking reporting) rather than being biased towards emotional reports. If they are a proper media outlet, they should report only the facts. We need to consider the reputation of Korean media and national gains. You have to compete with clear factual (true) articles. moonilsuk@naver.com
*Writer/Moon Il Seok.
He is a poet, publisher of this magazine, and also a reportage writer. His representative book is Secret Memoirs of the Central Intelligence Agency (3 volumes in total).
