A Korean show is facing backlash after airing a CCTV clip of an old woman being sexually abused
In Korea, an investigative documentary show called Curious Stories Y is being criticized for “complete lack of sensitivity” after airing a CCTV footage of an old woman being sexually abused.
The latest episode follows the story of Kim, 85, who lives alone in a very small rural neighborhood in South Korea. She shared that since five years ago, their neighborhood’s young male leader, Park, had been molesting her.
“[Park would] grope my breasts and slide his hands down my pants,” she said. Kim, who is diagnosed with kidney problems, does not have the strength to move or push Park away.
Because of this, Kim asked her son and daughter to build a front gate in front of her house. Though she was hesitant to admit to them the reason behind it at first, Kim found the courage to admit the years-long “shameful experience.” This then prompted her kids to install a CCTV camera inside her house—“not only to check if Kim’s confession is true, but also to gain evidence if the harassment actually took place,” reported Koreaboo.
When they did finally capture a footage of Park sexually harassing Kim, Kim’s children sued Park. Unfortunately, he wasn’t charged guilty because the court viewed Kim’s non-refusal as consent.
Since the airing of the episode, viewers got upset at the network company SBS and the show for airing the actual footage.
Viewers then took their anger to the SBS’ forum and wanted the producers to be given “punitive measures” for violating “the victim’s human rights.”
Sometimes I cried. I stayed up at night because I was scared. I thought about dying, because I didn’t see the point in living.
Koreaboo was able to translate some of the comments on the forum.
- “Petition for punitive measures against the production team who aired sexual harassment CCTV footage.
- “I’m baffled by how the producer of this show even got employed. How is he still keeping his position?”
- “Shouldn’t the production team have been more thoughtful about what to do with the CCTV footage…?”
- “Airing the footage was literally harassing the grandmother all over again.”
- “I’m going to file an official complaint about this.”
- “About that CCTV footage… Does the production team not care about the victim’s human rights?”
Photo from SBS