at the Central Party of Justice Party in Yeouido, Seoul on the afternoon of the 26th. Senior reporter Kim Bong-gyu [email protected]” alt=”Bae Bok-ju, Vice President of Justice Party, is interviewing Bae Bok-ju, Vice President of Justice Party, on the afternoon of the 26th, at the Central Party of Justice Party in Yeouido, Seoul <한겨레>I am interviewing with Senior reporter Kim Bong-gyu [email protected]
Deputy Chairman Bae Bok-joo, who reported the fact of sexual harassment by former Justice Party CEO Kim Jong-cheol on the 18th, and reported to the party delegation on the 25th after fact-finding, described the week as’a time of pressure. It was the experience of supporting victims of sexual violence for more than 20 years after the founding of the victim, Rep. Jang Hye-young, and the human rights group’Empathy for Disabled Women’ in 1998. On the 26th, Vice President Bae, who was in charge of investigating the facts of the sexual harassment case of former CEO Kim, met and interviewed the Central Party of Justice Party in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.
“Last week, it was a time of pressure”
Vice President Bae said, “If there has been no internal conflict for the past week, it is a lie. He said, “I have been supporting victims for 20 years and have been trying to keep the disciplined principles in my body.” The principle he said was not to pay attention to the’perpetrator’s narrative’. Vice President Bae said, “As seen in the case of former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, if you do not consider the acquaintance with the perpetrator, the trajectory of life, and the evaluation of the organization as separate issues from the sexual violence case, you will eventually fall into the perpetrator sympathy. In that case, it is difficult to approach the actual truth, and secondary damage will eventually occur. I was most wary of that point.” The reason he did not mention the specific details of the perpetrators or whether he was drinking alcohol while revealing the incident was because he was concerned about the situation in which such a’secondary narrative’ is misunderstood as the cause of sexual violence. Deputy Deputy Representative Bae’s process of handling the case was completely closed because of concerns about secondary damage. “We have minimized the procedure and made it a rule to minimize those who know this. When this incident became known (outside the situation where the party’s conclusion was not reached), secondary damage was expected.” ‘Is it appropriate to judge this case alone’,’Isn’t it right for the party leadership to judge with a common responsibility?’,’When the case is made public, what will happen to the party?’ These are the thoughts that went back and forth over the head of Vice President Bae over the past week. It was thanks to Congressman Jang that he was able to overcome that time. Vice President Bae said, “Rep. Jang was not only a victim, but a colleague who worked with us, and as a member of our party, we had many concerns. Rep. Jang’s sensibility and the process of sharing his many thoughts were learning times for me. The victim was rather a supporter.” Deputy Deputy Representative Bae set up three principles while dealing with this case. The first is to faithfully reflect the victim’s intentions and put daily recovery as a top priority. The second was the principle of non-tolerant punishment and discipline for the perpetrator, and the third was the principle of firmly confronting the second offense. Through this process, his goal was to enable the Justice Party to move toward a mature and gender-sensitive organization.
“Quickly admitted Kim Jong-cheol’s attitude relieves difficulties”
Despite the fact that the party’s representative was involved, unlike other sexual violence cases, Vice Chairman Bae said, “It is because the moments when the Justice Party strongly spoke about sex crimes have accumulated.” He said, “When we reported this incident at the delegation meeting on the 25th, everyone was shocked. However, there were moments when the party spoke strongly about sexual crimes by politicians, and there could be no disagreement because this process was shared by both the delegation and the legislator.” It is also said that the fact that the perpetrator, former CEO Kim, fully acknowledged his actions and said that he would take responsibility for his actions, was also a reason to close the case quickly. Vice President Bae said, “It can be compared with the case of Ahn Hee-jeong, in which case the perpetrator denied his actions from start to finish. As the dispute over facts continued, the victim had to suffer massive secondary abuse. It was less difficult because the incident and the perpetrator’s attitude were different.” In the process of handling the case, Vice President Bae said that he gave several options to Assemblyman Chang. Among those options, Rep. Chang chose to disclose the victims’ real names and resolve them at the party level. Vice President Bae listened to the choice of Rep. Chang. “The police investigation would have been one of the options for Senator Chang. However, it seems that Rep. Chang thought that it was a valid solution for the party to go through the procedure of the party taking the case seriously. I couldn’t overturn the judgment of that (victim’s),” he revealed the reason why he did not sue the investigation agency. It is said that the disclosure of the victim’s real name was initially negative because of fear of secondary abuse. However, Rep. Chang made a different judgment. Vice President Bae said, “In the case of Rep. Chang, he had two identities: a victim and a member of the National Assembly. It seems that it is difficult to continue as a politician without revealing that he is a victim. He said, “I thought that if I could stand up as a victim, I could be confident in the political space, so I decided to disclose my real name.” Vice President Bae said that in order to solve the problem of sexual violence, our daily lives must change. The moment they force the’victim’ and dismiss the’perpetrator’ as an unrelated entity, the incident of sexual violence can recur at any time. “The problem of sexual violence is a daily problem. Anyone ordinary can be a perpetrator. The media and public opinion treat the perpetrator as an extreme person who is not around us. But Kim Jong-cheol was no exception.” “In everyday life, sexual violence cases are bound to be repeated unless everyone respects the dignity of the other person and communicates with them as an important value. However, rather than thinking of these as important values, it seems that our society simply thinks and passes them over as’good words’.” Vice President Bae thought that our daily life could change from “reflecting small mistakes well and reflecting them well”.
“Receiving the second report of abuse… Take legal action”
The role of Vice President Bae is not over yet. As the head of the Party’s Gender Human Rights Headquarters and vice-president, he has repeatedly apologized to the party members and the people for this case, and he is one of those who have the responsibility to change the Justice Party. First of all, it is urgent to prevent secondary abuse. He said, “We are receiving reports on the secondary abuse that is currently occurring. We will take strict and decisive action, including legal action.” The improvement and renewal of the sugar constitution is also a major task. Above all, recovery of the victim is the most important, and it is also necessary to check whether the perpetrator fulfills the promised tasks, such as completing sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention education. Deputy Chairman Bae said, “Even in the Justice Party, the progressive party, sexual violence cases can continue. The problem is to do really well with what happened. All party members are watching this case. I think how the party handles this case will have a learning effect. It would be great if this case-handling process could contribute to preventing recurrence.” By Jeong Hwan-bong, staff reporter [email protected]