+1

There might be incentives (i.e. money), but there are also a lot of downsides to accusing a public figure of sexual assault. There is already a great deal of pressure with the South Korean criminal justice system for victims of sexual assault to "forgive" the perpetrators and settle out of court. (Keep in mind that of all of the people who are convicted of sexual assault in South Korea, only about 12% of them spend even a day in jail.)

This pressure for the sexual assault victim to drop the charges only intensifies when she/he accuses someone who is famous. For one thing, the accused celebrity is rich and can afford a great legal team. The celebrity also has the support of a legion of fans who will actively work to support the celebrity and discredit the alleged victim.

Also, sexual assault victims are very heavily stigmatized within South Korean culture, with women who are assaulted being considered "tainted" by the experience, or being blamed for somehow putting themselves in the situation (e.g. "Why were you out that late?" "Why were you wearing that?") By coming forward and identifying oneself as a victim of sexual assault, the alleged victim opens herself up to that stigma.

My point isn't to say that all cases levied against male celebrities are true: statistically speaking, a few of them might be false. Not a lot, but a few.

However, even if you think it's unlikely that all of the accused celebrities are guilty of their crimes, you have to admit that it's equally unlikely that all of the accused celebrities are INNOCENT. As such, it's important to take these sexual assault cases seriously.

@Chin: My citation was in my first post--Heenan and Murray 2006.

That's actually not true. In South Korea, for example, someone who is convicted of sexual assault--that is, found legally culpable of the abuse--is only sent to jail 12% of the time...and that statistic only refers to perpetrators who are actually convicted. There are many cases where there is a great deal of evidence to support that assault took place, but the victim is pressured to drop the charges.

If you're unfamiliar with the Miryang gang rape case (which occurred in 2004), the Airdre Mattner rape case (which is still pending), the Sora.net abusive porn case (which is still pending), go ahead and read up on them in order to how women are systemically disregarded in South Korean sexual assault cases.

@Chin: My point in bringing up the 12% statistic is to demonstrate that a solid portion of the time, the South Korean legal-judicial system does NOT do enough to punish those who have been determined to be guilty of sexual assault. If a whopping 88% of criminals (that is, people who've received a guilty verdict) are not serving time in jail for crimes they've committed, then the justice system isn't working.

You appear to be arguing for non-bias when it comes to sexual assault cases--that is, that we should see both sides of the issue, and that we should treat the stances of the accused rapist and the alleged victim as being equal.

I understand your point, but I don't think it's relevant to this discussion: if the criminal justice system has already been proven to be unfair when it comes to the prosecution and adjudication of sexual assault cases, how is it possible for these legal cases to exist within a state of non-bias?

(Also, how am I supposed to know how many accused rapists who were not ultimately convicted are actually innocent of their crimes? No data of that kind exists, because all accused rapists who were not ultimately convicted are assumed to be innocent.)