image from all KpopFor the crime of being beaten by her husband, Choi Jin-Shil was sued by Shinhan Engineering & Construction Co.: she was hired to promote their company, but by appearing in public with burises on her face, she damaged the image of the company she endorsed. The Korean Supreme Court upheld their suit.
(image from the story about the original filing of the suit, 5 years ago.)That's right: Choi got sued for being a victim of domestic violence. And found responsible for damages to the company. And the supreme court upheld it. And Korea wonders why they are 68th in the world on the Gender Empowerment Measure, despite being 25th on the Human Development Index: a disparity of 43 places. This is an embarrassment Korea, and a despicable action by the company. Here's the company's page. I can't find their e-mail, so you'll have to phone them and tell them how you feel. They should have pressed charges against her husband for damaging their "property". Cripes.
James Turnbull has more about Korean women getting royally screwed, in reputation or financially, for things that weren't their fault. (Happened to IVY, too.)
Mike Hurt on Korea's GEM
On a more sarcastic note: comedy site Yangpa reports on Korea's "Let's Keep Domestic Violence Domestic" campaign: hit your wife at home, not in front of the KFC!
5 comments:
Hi, Anonymous.
What I know of Korea's libel laws compels me to take down your call to try and damage Shinhan's financial prospects. It's easy for you to make declarations like that anonymously, but my real name is attached to the blog, and I'm responsible for what goes on in the comments, according to Korea's information laws.
I do not endorse boycotting Shinhan or any such activity against their economic operation. However, I think calls and letters of protest are pefectly appropriate.
Here is the information you posted (which can be found at their website)
Shinhan:
Tel: 82-2-369-0035
Address: PO Box 61
Zip code: 150-010
Shinhan Bldg 12-3
Yeouido-dong
Youngdeungpo-gu
Seoul, Korea
You can submit letters of protest to Shinhan at their website:
https://www.seco.co.kr/eng/cs/cs_04.htm
Shinhan. World Class.
"Shinhan provides quality construction of the highest quality around the as an investment in the future."
Because, you know, I feel safer in buildings where the construction company is obsessive with the details.
let's not rush into a hasty conclusion even though the story does sound crazy enough for your head to explode. It is easy to point your finger at the chauvinistic Korean society that stills treat women like sh*t but let's put things into perspective before we have a knee-jerk reaction to the story.
first off, if it had been yonsama who was under the contract with shinhan and he had got himself in a sexual assualt case, for example, with some bimbo, I'm fairly certain shinhan would've sought a similar course of legal action against him.
also, i think shinhan or any company in such situation would have a case against its spokesmodel under the terms signed by choi and shinhan. the real problem is that whoever handled the contract on choi's side was dumb enough to allow such a sloppy phrase in a contract. choi obviously had no intent to damage the company/product she was endorsing but the term in question is so broad that it does not seem to require the person's intent. instead of fighting it out in the media with her husband, it would've been wiser for her and her manager to document the incident for a legal fight with her husband (and that's probably shinhan would've preferred). i'm sure nike was ticked off about the kobe incident but they probably did not seek any damages because kobe's agent/lawyers were smart enough to leave some wiggle room for their client who was after all a 20-something hothead with a boatload of cash and a garageful of hot cars.
the korean legal system does seem crazy, byzantine, irrational, political, and undisciplined at times, and this case is just one of many nutty cases that defy common sense. so i think it's a little hasty to paint this story as another example of social ills in the male-oriented korean society.
i hope choi's family files a big fat lawsuit against her deadbeat husband to get the money back and more.
Post a Comment