Kang continued to investigate and once she had gathered enough evidence, she published a story which exposed the behaviour of the chat group members including Jung, Choi and Seungri.
This time, there was a difference. Once Kang’s story was out there, the authorities acted swiftly and Jung was the first to be arrested.
This encouraged other victims to come forward and press charges against the stars.
It took great strength. The victims had all seen the public turn against Jung’s girlfriend when she first reported him in 2016. Many overcame the fear of being stigmatised and humiliated to pursue criminal charges against the singers.
But as justice was served, the trolls subjected Kang to many “unfathomable personal attacks”.
Kang says: “At the time I was pregnant, right? So they called me femi-bitch. Pregnant femi-bitch. Left-wing femi-bitch.
“It was the first time in almost five years of marriage that I’d managed to fall pregnant, so I was so scared, in case something might happen to the baby. My heart was incredibly lonely and exhausted.”
Kang says the “most shocking” comments that “I can’t even utter” were directed at her child in a harassment campaign that lasted three years, but “I have no regrets”, she says.
Jo Elfving-Hwang, associate professor of Korean society and culture at Curtin University, Perth, Australia, says in exposing the K-pop stars, Park and Kang essentially experienced “the very same violence” that silenced the victims who were made to “feel unable to speak”.
She says talking about gender inequality can be “very divisive” in South Korea and misogyny – the hatred of women – was at the heart of what both the victims and journalists faced.
