Ali, a relatively new singer, has been under heavy critique and media attention lately due to her recent album release. She included a song in it that referenced a hugely sensationalized rape case in Korea a few years back of a little 9-year-old girl (pseudonym: NaYoung, Korean news article here) who was raped and severely injured in 2008 by a drunk man in his 50′s on her way to school in the morning.
I’m not sure of the exact details, but upon the release of this song, the netizens of Korea rose up in verbal arms berating and attacking Ali for bringing up an old past and picking at the scars of the girl and the family into public light again.
Ali responded by rescinding the song and publicly apologizing to the family and the girl. She further clarified that she had written the lyrics to the song in hopes to comfort NaYoung, rather than to make things harder for her. The netizens apparently didn’t let up, because Ali and her father felt it necessary to hold another press conference to apologize and talk about her own trauma of being sexually assaulted around the same time as NaYoung. The perpetrator in Ali’s case punched her in the face and breaking her cheekbone, and raped her after taking her somewhere by taxi when she lost consciousness. The law did not do much to bring justice for her apparently because there were no witnesses to support her case. He hasn’t apologized and still claims that he is innocent.
Here are some excerpts from the letter that Ali drafted, which her father read on behalf of her at the press conference:
당초 저는 아버님 말씀대로 평생 비밀로 하고 지내기로 결심했습니다. 그러나 마음의 응어리가 너무 아픈채 지워지지 않았고 저와 비슷한 시기에 범죄피해자가 된 나영이의 마음이 저의 마음과 너무나 흡사할 것이라고 생각했고 나영이를 위로해 주고 싶었고 성폭력범죄에 대해 경종을 울리고 싶었습니다. 그래서 사건 당시 만들어놓았던 노래를 이번 앨범에 수록하게 됐습니다. 하지만 방법과 표현 등이 미숙해 잘못을 저지른 것 같습니다.
At the time, as my father said, I decided to keep it as a secret for the rest of my life. But I was still hurting in the deepest part of my heart and I couldn’t erase the pain. Since NaYoung and I were victimized around the same time, I thought that she would be feeling what I was feeling; so I wanted to comfort her as well as warn others about sexual violence. That’s why I included the song that I had written back then to my current album. I guess the way and the expression of what I wanted to convey wasn’t fitting and caused a problem.결과적으로 저의 의도와는 다르게 저의 신중하지 못한 행동 때문에 나영이와 그 가족, 그리고 많은 분들을 화나게 했습니다.
Ultimately, I enraged NaYoung, her family, and many others due to my actions despite my intentions.다시금 여러분께 용서를 구합니다. 그리고 다시는 이 땅에서 치욕적이며 여성을 짐승처럼 취급하는 성폭력범죄, 인격살인의 범죄가 사라지기를 바랍니다.
I ask for your forgiveness again. Sexual violence creates so much shame, treats women like animals, and is a crime against a person’s identity. I hope that this violence is wiped out from this earth.집에 도둑이 들면 피해사실에 대해 말이라도 해 속이 후련할 수 있겠지만 성폭력범죄는 피해자에게는 평생 혼자 짊어지고 갈 비밀이며 수치입니다. 그동안 너무나 답답하고 속상했습니다. 저는 앞으로 여성인권과 특히 성폭력범죄추방을 위해 평생 노력하며 살겠습니다.
If one is robbed, they can at least tell others about it and find healing that way. But a victim of sexual abuse carry this secret and shame with her alone. I’ve been hurting and feeling suffocated since. I hope to continue working for women’s rights, especially against sexual violence, for the rest of my life.많은 분들께 심려 끼쳐드리고 물의를 일으켜 다시금 사죄의 말씀을 드리며 용서를 구합니다.
Again, I’m sorry for making you all worry and causing a scandal. I ask for your forgiveness.
Ali personally added at the end, saying tearfully:
여자로서 감당하기 힘든 수치심을 느끼고 한때 극단적인 생각도 했지만 그런 저를 견디게 해준건 음악이었습니다. 노래할 수 있게 해주세요. 아픈 사람들에게 제 노래를 들려줄 수 있도록 부탁드립니다. 다시한번 아이와 아이 가족들에게 고개 숙여 사과 드립니다. 사죄드립니다
I was so ashamed as a woman and have thought extreme things [alluding to suicide] many times, but music helped me survive. Please let me make music. Please let others who are hurting listen to my music. I’m sorry again to NaYoung and her family. I sincerely apologize.(the Korean article here, translation by me)
I am so shocked and upset and angry. And while I’m trying so hard to temper my anger with the fact that I am far removed from the context of where all of this is happening and probably don’t understand the whole picture, I am still incensed with this sense of injustice.
There are different ways of healing. There is no one-size-fits-all form of recovery from trauma. This was Ali’s way of recovering. It was her way of healing and her way to speak out for herself as well as for other victims. What right does the public have to take this away form her and hurt her again? Especially when they failed to deliver justice?
I don’t understand the netizen culture…
There are ideas in my head about how to make sense of this phenomena and the internet culture. But there are many things besides the internet culture and the netizens involved in this case (as noted here in this Korean article), and all of them trigger me deeply. I’m too riled up to write about it rationally and logically right now. Better go cool off….
