South Korean #Metoo First Shot Interview with Xu Zhixian: After that, I have been trying to show happiness

"For eight years, I kept thinking about what I had done wrong and whether it had gone wrong, and it was painful.
So I'm here today to tell all the victims of crime, the victims of sexual violence,
I want to tell you, it's definitely not your fault

It took me eight years to realize it. Xu Zhixian

On January 29, 2018, Korean television station JTBC News Room studio.

Sun Shixi, a journalist who has exposed former President Park Geun-hye's political past, sat in front of the camera and visited South Korean prosecutor Hsu Zhixian, who exposed sexual harassment by his superiors eight years ago, while the judiciary tried to cover up sexual violence victims and annihilation.

The nearly 20-minute interview set off a two-year wave of #Metoo movements in South Korea , from the literary world to politics, performing arts, sports, and even on campus.

Xu Zhixian became the first person in South Korea to fire a gun in the #Metoo movement, but whenever she was called a pioneer and representative of the #Metoo movement, she smiled calmly, did not accept or reject. On the day of the interview, she remained quiet, and every word was clear:

"People always say I'm brave. But I will say it, not because I am brave, but because I can't stand it any longer. 」

South Korea's Hall of Justice, Covering up injustice

On October 30, 2010, prosecutor Xu Zhixian attended the funeral and met Antaigen, a prosecutor who was travelling with the Minister of Justice. During the meeting, Antaigen constantly sexualharassment xu Zhixian, hugging her waist, touching her ass, next to not only the Minister of Justice, but also a large number of prosecutors, now she only constantly dodge, not to open.

"At first, I intend to solve this problem internally. Xu Zhixian said. At the time, she told the prosecutor's office superiors that she had asked For an apology, but that things had come to an end, and that the next response was an improper personnel order: in 2015, she was transferred without warning from the Prosecutor's Office in the northern part of Seoul to the Ymconitta District Prosecutor's Office in Gyeongsang Nam Road.

Paradoxically, she had just received praise from her superiors before the order came down, and Xu Zhixian said in a JTBC interview that anyone with such a disciplinary order would feel wrong.

So on January 29, 2018, Xu Zhixian first published an article on the prosecutor's internal network, "I Have A Dream(I have a wish), " accused Antegen of sexual harassment, followed by a JTBC interview that appeared: "Last year's TV show exposed sexual harassment by superiors, I was actually very afraid, because the victim sat. To tell everyone a name, your face must also be seen. However, Korean society at that time, generally not to criticize the perpetrators, but to criticize the victims, so when such things happen, the victims often for fear of secondary injury, they choose to endure. 」

"But I can't bear it. The prosecution should be the most righteous place, but they have chosen to hide this injustice, which I can no longer bear. Xu Zhixian was puzzled about the result and asked himself, "The profession of prosecutor should have done justice and protected the victims." But as a prosecutor, why can't I even be able to solve my own injuries? 」

The country's hall of justice, but the sexual harassment incident as irrelevant, great irony, so that she can not sit idly by.

After the revelation: I've always wanted to be happy

I asked, seeing you in other interviews, looks strong and brave, will anyone suspect that you are not a "victim"? Xu Zhixian nodded slightly and said, "Generally speaking, not only is the court asking for the "victim" to be exposed, but the community will do so." Not painful enough, the law will not believe. 」

She thought for a moment and said slowly, "But I think the victim must be happier than anyone else." So I try to show happiness, not to show pain. 」

She does not want to be the typical victim in the eyes of others, but want to shed tears on the tears, feel happy can be unbridled smile. As a "victim" of her population, she has the right to decide what kind of appearance and posture she should appear in, and to slowly regain strength and recovery in her daily life. What she did was not to believe in who, but to believe that the truth was so, and that justice should respond.

At that moment I thought of some people, such as Ito poetry weaving, such as Cui Yongmei, they always said, not courage and action, but not to bear, had to do. So bear an unusually heavy burden and vision, some are criticism and scolding, but the more afraid, the more they hold up a smile, do not want to fall into this society's single imagination of the victims.

Despite the revelations, huge public pressure has forced South Korea's Ministry of Justice to act, but prosecutors have been unable to prosecute Antegan for sexual harassment because the case has expired, and the 2017 dismissal of Antegan over a corruption scandal will make it more difficult to investigate. Later, the prosecutor changed to charge sin-abuse, saying that the arbitrary transfer caused Xu Zhixian's heart greatly hurt.

On January 23, 2019, Antegan was sentenced to two years in prison for abuse.

Despite the report, the real number of people who have been accepted or convicted

Can justice create a relatively sound system to help victims when the #Metoo movement promotes the voice of victims?

When we asked about the gender status in South Korea, she took out her bag and took her sorted notes with numbers on her head. She said, without a word, that she would like to use her status as a prosecutor to talk about South Korea.

She noted that sexual crimes in South Korea had become serious in recent years, and that the biggest problem was in the judicial system: despite the fact that victims reported them, only a small number had been accepted or convicted. In South Korea, she says, 70 percent of victims of rape are women, but 65 percent of the perpetrators are punished with fines, violence that extends to intimate relationships is a difficult crime, and 37 percent of domestic violence victims choose to report crimes, but most are not accepted because domestic violence is still considered a "domestic matter" by police.

These statistics are only the tip of the iceberg, and the huge black population is unknown.

In TIME's film report, Xu Zhixian once said:
"If someone asks me what it's like to be a woman in Korea. I'll say, "You don't want to be born a woman's experience even if you're born again." 』」

According to figures released by the OECD, the gender pay gap in South Korea has remained above 30% since 2000, twice the OECD average: "The job market is also largely different between men and women, and public companies are doing anything at all and not admitting women." Even when you get into a business, there are a lot of people who quit because of childcare. Korean society believes that family and child-rearing are women's businesses, and the idea is deeply rooted. 」

Born a woman, born a Korean woman, sex is like the original sin. But she believes that women's voices never disappear with a momentary buried: "After the Korean War, the role of women is becoming more and more important. In the 1990s, Korean women were the first to speak out against the actions of Japanese comfort women; in 2016, sexual harassment was exposed within the literary world; and after 2018 there was a formal #Metoo campaign. She said affirmatively. There will be change, and there will be change.

Xu Zhixian started the #Metoo movement in South Korea, but the ultimate goal is to hope that one day there will be no more #Metoo, because in that future, no one will be oppressed.

In writing the interview, I recalled her speech at the closing ceremony of the World Conference on Women's Asylum And Resettlement.

She said she had a dream of becoming a justice prosecutor.
Now she has another dream, one that dreams of living in a world where she no longer needs to #Metoo sports.

Edit postscript

Xu Zhixian's physical condition has not been very good, she mentioned in the interview. After the interview, we tried to record the video, not sure if she would feel tired, and asked her if she could make up a few passages.

Xu Zhixian laughed and joked that of course he could: "I can record it for a lifetime!" 」

I then think of those who will experience the experience of the women, when they stand out, like already ready to fight a lifetime of war, is their own demons, their own against social injustice, this war has the beginning, will not stop at will.

In my eyes, they are like female soldiers, even if they say they are not brave, still can come to an end.