Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Five years ago, police made an arrest following former AOA member Kwon Mina coming forward and saying she was raped when she was 14 in middle school by an older student. While it has taken a while, she did recently get a court ruling that confirmed her allegations, as an appeal court recognized the rape charge. However, due to the more severe injury charge not being upheld, the statute of limitations on the case expired, so there was no legal punishment.
Explaining the situation on Instagram, Mina said, “The incident had happened 14 years ago when I started preparing for the trial, and my heart raced, and I had high hopes … when I heard the offender could face severe punishment if found guilty not only of rape, but also of the injury charge, which would mean the statute of limitations has not passed.” The statute of limitations for rape in South Korea is 10 years, while for rape with injury is 15 years.
I think many will share her disappointment that the perpetrator wasn’t punished, but I do feel happy for her that it seemed to bring a sense of closure, “From my perspective as the victim, what mattered was whether [the offender was found] guilty or not guilty. … The fact that the offender was found guilty of one of the charges carries tremendous meaning for me. Since it has been revealed that [the offender] is a bad person, I think I can be satisfied with the current results.“
She also hopes her case will give others courage to come forward, “It’s now an incident that happened 18 years ago, and although I hid due to the societal perceptions back then, I think things have changed now as time has passed. … I hope the victims don’t blame themselves or try to hide, and I want to tell them to be courageous and speak up for themselves.“
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In subsequent years, a lot of Korean and international news covered every last move Mina made since it was easy fodder, especially since the mess with the AOA bullying allegations. That was predictable given the nature of social media, but I don’t think I posted about her since because I mostly got the feeling that she was just continuing to suffer, and the root of her troubles likely stemmed from this traumatic event.
The nitpicking and analysis of her actions, and the discourse around it, all assuming that she could and should be a rational actor after this while they were sitting at home on their computer eating Cheetos and relaxing didn’t seem to make sense to me given the context, much less their constant accusations that she was lying*. So now I can only hope that this not only gives her the closure she needs to focus on herself moving forward, but also that netizens are at least more understanding of her mental state in the past and future, giving her … I dunno, some leeway on things instead of trying to make her a target.
*Global fans are only good at pretending to be better than other fans until shit hits the fan on literally anything that requires any nuance or actual maturity. Over the years it’s just become hard to take them seriously regarding holding others accountable, when it mostly ends up just them concern trolling with fandom in mind, and it’s become increasingly clear they don’t actually give a single fuck about any of it in terms of core values.
