Korean Sexual Violence Relief Center (KSVRC) affiliated Research Institute 'Ulim' analyses anti-sexual violence theories, sexual violence culture, as well as the laws, policies and systems regarding sexual violence, based on the data and experiences accumulated by the KSVRC through its support of sexual violence victims/survivors for the past 28 years.

In the 'Anti-Sexual Violence Issue Report', Volume 12, published by 'Ulim' in December 2018, several research papers related to most up-to-date sexual violence issues are introduced. All the papers are in Korean, and one of these papers, entitled "Commercialization of sexual violence counter-accusations and ‘retaliatory, planned counter-accusations’" is now translated into English. 

The author of the paper is Bo Hwa Kim, who is a Senior Researcher of the KSVRC 'Ulim' Research Institute. In her paper, Bo Hwa Kim studies the ‘retaliatory, planned counter-accusation’, which is a recent trend of sexual violence counter-accusations in South Korea. As author defines, the sexual violence counter-accusation is "when the sexual violence perpetrator and the prosecutor accuse and prosecute the victim for false accusation, perjury and others after the victim of sexual violence accuse the perpetrator for sexual violence, or when the perpetrator or the perpetrator's allies accuse the victim and the victim's allies for defamation, insult and others or file a civil suit for damages". 

This paper looks through the cases where several counter-accusations have been proceeded against the victim of sexual violence, the allies of the victim, the person in solidarity with a victim, and the third person, naming this phenomenon as ‘retaliatory, planned counter-accusations’.

"Now, solidarity among perpetrators is not restricted to merely a discourse. It goes beyond feelings of injustice and resistance. Rather, solidarity is becoming more ‘planned’. For instance, perpetrators share information on counter-measures, the lawyers who helped them, etc. Moreover, certain law firms increase the threat and counter-accusation cases against victims by using promotional phrases such as ‘lawyer dedicated to sex crimes,’ ‘I will help clear you of suspicion or to be acquitted,’ ‘expert for false accusations.’ (…)" (p.3)

● The original, Korean version of the 'Anti-Sexual Violence Issue Report' is also available online, and can be downloaded from here ↓↓↓ http://www.sisters.or.kr/load.asp?subPage=310.view&cate1=%BC%D2%BD%C4%C1%F6&cate2=B02&page=1&idx=235

● The PDF version of the translated paper can be downloaded from here ↓↓↓ 

Translated by: Jin Sun Park  (Intern, KSVRC/ Sciences Po)

Checked by: Anat Schwartz (Visiting researcher, KSVRC)