Sunday, June 26, 2016

[EDITORIAL] The Park Yoo-Chun Incident: If It Smells Like A Rat


An International POV


As the South Korean entertainment industry continues to grow in popularity around the world, it is attracting legions of new fans as they tap into the vast previously unexplored universe of K-pop music, TV dramas and movies. By making their entertainment content available on a global level, South Korea has opened up a world of addictive sub-titled wonders and talented musicians with their highly visual synchronized stage shows, endearing them to fans far beyond the realms of their own country and transforming them into international superstars.
This means with so much attention focused on their talent, what happens in South Korea no longer stays in South Korea. Although it is a small country which would fit in between Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA, their entertainment industry is second to none. But the downside is it has the highest rate of false allegations against celebrities than all other countries combined. Those in the limelight who depend upon their image to survive in the dog-eat-dog world of entertainment, also become sitting targets which some view as easy prey and a fast buck, putting them in a position where they either have to fight back, pay up or be destroyed. Although authorities take these matters seriously, it hasn’t stopped the bold and aggressive behavior of some to seize the chance to capitalize or gain attention when the opportunity presents itself.
All eyes are currently on Park Yoo-Chun, one of South Korea’s most prominent entertainers who is experiencing every actor’s nightmare. As the world watches the actor-singer fight to keep his professional life from crumbling amid accusations of sexual misconduct, the first thought which enters the minds of international onlookers is“here we go again”, because incidents of this nature are so commonplace.
An overall picture of Park’s ordeal is now coming into focus. Considering everything surrounding the initial claim and even before the criminal plot was exposed, the word “rape” had an absurd ring to it. The fact that the scheme against him fell through comes as no surprise. His mistake was letting someone he didn’t know well enough to trust with his private life get too close.
It’s highly doubtful Park can be charged on accusations alone. Why were the 2014 and 2015 allegations not pursued earlier? Their “after-thought” actions now appear as bogus as the first claim; Especially since it appears Yoochun was out of the country both times the incidents would have occurred as stated in their claims. Flimsy tactics of this sort should be an insult to any court of law in view of the initial accuser recanting her story and becoming the perpetrator by making false accusations against the star which resulted in blackmail and extortion charges backed with documented evidence.
Similar to the Yoochun accusations, the two females who were charged and convicted for blackmailing international star Lee Byung Hun learned the hard way about the consequences of fraud. Also, after being accused of sexual assault, singer Kai(not EXO Kai) has been proven innocent and cleared of all charges. Universal Music Group announced it will take legal action to seek restitution for the damage to the singer’s reputation.
Why should the public automatically assume Park Yoo-Chun is guilty of these charges simply because they are made by women? While crimes against women are a major issue and deserve all due diligence in recognizing their rights and protecting them, there are many instances where the perpetrators are women using the “weaker sex” scenario to carry out their orchestrated scheme to frame a person of notoriety for monetary gain, often with accomplices. All elements in Park’s situation screams this is the case.
The whole fiasco and everything surrounding it just doesn’t add up. To anyone watching this heartbreaking agony of one of South Korea’s A-list superstars, it “smells like a rat” (to detect something suspicious) making it very hard for common sense to accept the accusations as anything but contrived.
Park Yoo-Chun has yet to be charged with any wrongdoing and accusations against him continue to unravel and fall apart. His management company is taking a fortified stance in his support and stands ready to issue a counter attack against all individuals behind the malicious activity.
While rumors circulate that Yoochun will never work in the industry again, even after proven innocent, the fact remains he has a strong unwavering international fan base who are not buying into any of it. In the wake of this unfortunate disaster, strict measures should continue to be taken against all who made false statements as well as a major clean-up to uncover all the destructive comments launched by social media and internet jockeys on a witch hunt as well as biased journalists whose judgemental words resulted in defamation of character.

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