Korean women demand greater equality, inclusion as post-Yoon Suk Yeol era looms

By Lee Hae-rin

Park, a 34-year-old office worker from Seoul, is eagerly awaiting the Constitutional Court's final verdict on the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, which is set to occur later this month following his martial law imposition on the nation late last year.

"I’ve been waiting for this moment for months,” she said, “When Yoon, who had been elected on an openly misogynistic agenda, chose to raise a rebellion, I thought we, the women who had been the biggest victim of his administration, should take the lead in bringing him down," Park said, explaining that she went to impeachment rallies almost every week.

"It seems that the [main opposition] Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) at least made pledges on women’s rights to win the hearts of female swing voters during the last election. But this time, they haven’t said a word, maybe because they believe they are in an advantageous position to win,” she said.

However, she remains doubtful that any presidential candidate in a possible upcoming early election this spring — if Yoon is impeached — will truly represent her interests.

She embodies the young Korean women in their 20s and 30s who have gained local and international attention due to their powerful presence during the recent political upheaval. However, it remains uncertain whether the Korean political landscape, which has long marginalized and scapegoated women, will shift to address the setbacks caused by socioeconomic discrimination, and the personal safety challenges women face.

Song, a university student from Seoul who led a campus protest last week in support of impeaching the president, expressed sentiments similar to those of Park.

She emphasized that discrimination and violence are pervasive in the daily lives of women in Korea, sharply contradicting Yoon's claim that structural gender discrimination no longer exists in the country. Sexual crimes, particularly technology-facilitated offenses like spy cam incidents and deepfake pornography, are rampant in both the public and private spheres.

She, too, feels relieved at the thought of his presidency ending, especially after his remarks blaming feminism for the country’s declining birthrate and his actions undoing years of progress in women’s rights. However, she remains uncertain about who will advocate for her, as she faces discrimination and violence in her daily life.

In Korea's largely two-party political landscape, the conservative People Power Party (PPP) has increasingly aligned itself with misogynistic ideologies, while the opposition DPK has gained significant support from young women and feminists.

Notably, in 2022, the DPK recruited young feminist figures like Park Ji-hyun, who played a key role in addressing major online sexual crimes, including the notorious Nth Room case. This involved the widespread production and distribution of sexually exploitative videos, often accompanied by blackmail and coercion of women and girls, through encrypted Telegram chat rooms in Korea.

However, when she criticized her party for mishandling internal sexual misconduct cases, the DPK accused her of "causing internal division," silenced her and removed her from her position.

“Watching these events unfold, I realized that neither the PPP nor the DPK genuinely advocates for women,” Park said.

Park, Song and several speakers at the impeachment rallies shared their expectations that the next government will build a society where social minorities, including women, can live safely and freely, without facing discrimination.

To achieve this, a comprehensive antidiscrimination law — one that Korean politicians have ignored for over a decade — stands as one of the key policies that is urgently needed, they added.

In the 21st National Assembly, several progressive minor party lawmakers proposed an antidiscrimination bill, but it was abolished at the end of the term as it didn't exceed the standing committee threshold. Those who proposed and pushed the bill ended up losing seats.

In the 22nd National Assembly, not a single lawmaker has proposed an antidiscrimination bill. Rep. Ju Cheol-hyeon, a former chairman of the DPK's human rights committee, said on social media on Feb. 22, "The issue of living is a priority over the antidiscrimination law," adding, "Our party has never pushed for an antidiscrimination law, nor is it doing so at the moment."

Experts say policies for politically active young women are needed in Korea's next chapter.

"The new government should set gender equality and gender justice in its agenda for Korean society after impeachment, knowing who acted to develop democracy in Korea,” Professor Kim Hyun-mee, a professor of cultural anthropology at Yonsei University, said.

“Young Korean women have expressed their political aspirations but repeatedly experienced loss and betrayal [due to the politics]. This time, the male-dominated, elite political circle who have only taken advantage of women's votes but remained indifferent to the changes they aspire to, should reflect on themselves," Kim said.

"We will criticize and monitor whether they properly reflect women's voices in the presidential election after the impeachment verdict," Park said. "We will exercise our rights to vote properly."