RAPE AND MOLKA IN CLUB BURNING SUN: ANALYZING SOUTH KOREAN NEWSPAPER PORTRAYALS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Journalist framing, linguistic, and visual choices shape societal understandings of gender and sexual violence against women. News media is a primary source of information about social issues, making the language they use important to relaying a sense of importance or a lack of to the public. Extant literature on media representation indicates that there are significant differences in the framing of gendered violence in Western countries when high-status perpetrators are involved, but East Asian media has not been extensively researched. Considering rapid globalization of the South Korean entertainment industry and growing sexual violence accusations against prolific celebrities in the country, this research analyzes how Korean news media frames and portrays high-status perpetrators and victims of sexual violence. Using the most widespread recent sexual violence investigation in South Korean history with more than 4,000 suspects implicated in the case from around the world, this research uses a case study approach to investigate the “Burning Sun Scandal.” This investigation is known for drawing global attention to popular celebrities who have been using their influence, power, and wealth for sex trafficking, abuse, and blackmail of women from lower socioeconomic statuses. Employing a content analysis methodology, 278 articles from the Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo, and Dong-A Ilbo were coded for latent and manifest content. Coding revealed themes of minimization, trivialization, victim-blaming, questioning of victim credibility, and male privilege. Overall, representation by these newspapers on Burning Sun were celebrity centric and demonstrated stigmatization of victim experiences which contributes to rape myths that perpetuate misogynic beliefs in the country.