In late November, a central district court in the South Korean capital of Seoul sentenced Cho Ju-bin, a 25-year-old man, to 40 years in prison for operating an online sex trafficking ring. The charges include blackmailing at least 74 women and 16 minors into performing sexual acts captured on video. The videos were then sold to members of secret chat rooms with at least 10,000 people, on an encrypted messaging service, Telegram. 

This scandal is just one of many incidents of sexual harassment and assault cases brought to light since the emergence of South Korea’s #MeToo movement in 2018. In a country that consistently ranks low for gender equality, there is hope that Cho’s sentence of 40 years in prison may represent a slow, but growing awareness of sexual violence against women in South Korea. 

Reality, however, paints a much bleaker image of equality in the country. According to the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report, South Korea ranks 108 out of 153 countries for gender parity. Although it ranked seven spots higher than the previous year, when South Korea was also found to be the worst country for working women in the OECD. Even more concerning, a 2019 UN report on global homicide found that women make up the majority of homicide victims in South Korea. 

South Korean women are also disproportionately affected by domestic abuse. In a 2014 survey, 90 per cent of women indicated suffering either verbal or physical abuse from their partners. As more sexual harassment cases are made public, how can we expect the status of gender equality to evolve in South Korea? 

Compared to the previous conservative government under President Park Geun-hye, the current more liberal government, under President Moon Jae-in, expressed its willingness to implement greater protections for the victims of sexual assault and harassment. In 2017, Moon ran on a promise to “become a feminist president” and acknowledged South Korea’s gender gap as “our shameful reality.” After former provincial governor Ahn Hee-jung was accused of raping his secretary, Moon’s government called for extending the statute of limitations for sexual abuse and providing an anonymous reporting system for sexual assault victims. Earlier this year, the government also raised the age of consent from 13 to 16 and announced stricter laws for digital sex crimes, particularly for those crimes involving minors. 

Although these efforts represent important progress toward gender equality in South Korea, some South Korean women say it is not enough. In addition to Ahn Hee-jung, two members of Moon’s Democrat Party were accused of sexual assault this past year. In April 2020, Oh Keo-don, the mayor of Busan, South Korea’s second largest city, resigned amid sexual assault accusations. In July, Park Won-soon, the mayor of Seoul, committed suicide after his former secretary accused him of sexual assault. 

One of the most concerning aspects of Park’s death was that the mayor and former lawyer was reportedly a supporter of women’s rights and served on South Korea’s first known sexual harassment case in the 1990s. Several Democrat leaders defended Park, while President Moon remained silent on all three accusations within his party and sparked public outrage for financing the funeral with taxpayer funds. Even more troubling is that Park’s former secretary, who has not been named, has faced harsh public backlash. Many questioned why the victim did not come forward sooner and accused her of using her sexuality to exploit and take advantage of Park. This recent scandal is a testament to the deeply imbedded gender inequality and discrimination still present in South Korea. 

Clearly more work needs to be done to address South Korea’s gender inequalities, and many South Korean women are vocal in expressing their demands for change. For some women, addressing gender inequality means fundamental changes to hiring practices and discrimination in the workplace. Women make up less than four per cent of executive boards in South Korea, which is the lowest among OECD countries. 

At the same time, some women are hoping to address South Korea’s high beauty standards. A feminist movement known as “escape the corset” challenges traditional beauty standards and gender norms by encouraging women to go makeup free and cut their hair short. Finally, thousands of South Korean women have taken to the streets to protest sexual violence against women. In August 2018, around 70,000 women rallied against the widespread prevalence of molka, which refers to hidden cameras (often placed in public restrooms) that are used to capture and post videos online without the victim’s knowledge or consent. 

As these examples demonstrate, the push for gender equality in South Korea is growing, but several challenges remain. Although any response to gender inequality should be met with comprehensive changes from the government, the biggest shift towards gender equality must come from within society.