EDITOR’S LETTER
Hello. The first NEWS HERLIVERY of July is PEOPLE EDITION, which collects and delivers news related to female figures. Please check out the article in this issue to see where and how women are struggling.
At the 2024 Kyunghyang Forum, former lawmaker Jasmin Lee defined Korean society as a “selectively racist country” and directly criticized the political circles that amplify hatred and conflict.
Among the nine Supreme Court Justice candidates recommended by the Supreme Court Justice Candidate Recommendation Committee, three female candidates - Park Soon-young, Yoon Seung-eun, and Lee Sook-yeon - are attracting attention.
Lee Oh-sook, the first female fire chief and head of the Jeonbuk Fire Department, recalled her past days, saying, “I went into this with the thought that if I couldn’t hold on, my juniors might not have a chance.”
Kim So-young, who worked as a firefighter and paramedic for 20 years and saved countless lives, left after saving the lives of five people through brain-dead organ donation.
Korea's first female resource engineer, Ahn Ji-hwan, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, made new history by becoming the first woman to serve as president of the Korea Institute of Energy Research.
The Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art is holding a landscape-related exhibition for the first time since its opening. You can meet the landscaping world of ‘the first female landscape engineer’ Jeong Young-seon.
Pak Se-ri, chairman of the Pak Se-ri Hope Foundation, will appear as a golf commentator for KBS at the Paris Olympics.
As a result of CNN conducting a poll on presidential candidates by commissioning public opinion polling agency SSRS, when President Biden and former President Trump faced off, the two candidates recorded approval ratings of 43% and 49%, respectively.
On the other hand, in a virtual match between Vice President Harris and former President Trump, the race was close within the margin of error, and in a virtual match between former President Obama's wife, Michelle Obama, and former President Trump, Mrs. Obama overwhelmed former President Trump with an approval rating of 50%.
Marlene Engelhorn, a German-Austrian woman, donated 25 million euros (about 37 billion won) of her inheritance to 77 civic organizations. In Cameroon, Africa, the daughter of the incumbent president,
Brenda Villa, revealed her same-sex lover through social media. Attention is being drawn to the fact that her father, President Biya, is the one responsible for discriminatory policies against sexual minorities.
This is all the news prepared by NEWS HERLIVERY. I hope that our readers, along with the women who are struggling in their respective positions, will be successful in their respective battlefields. Thank you.
- Best Wishes, Editor-in-Chief Yun Danwoo
Jasmine Lee: “Korea is a country of selective racism... Politicians amplify hatred and discrimination”
Lee Yu-jin, Kyunghyang Shinmun, 24.06.26
Jasmin Lee, chairman of the Korea Cultural Diversity Organization (former member of the National Assembly), defined Korean society as a ‘selectively racist country’ on the 26th and said, “Politics, which should mediate conflicts between different groups and set rules, is instead serving to amplify conflicts.” “He said.
Chairman Lee said this in a lecture at the 2024 Kyunghyang Forum held at the Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, saying, “The two-party system and single-member district system in Korean politics are creating a two-party monopoly and winner-takes-all politics.” He mentioned the case of a far-right figure who was controversial for privately forcibly arresting and interrogating undocumented migrant workers, running for office in the April 10 general election, and the fact that a bill was proposed to exclude the application of the minimum wage law to migrant domestic workers. He diagnosed, “Abusive language and hate speech are being used as an easy tool to rally supporters.”
Chairman Lee said, “Korea is both a victim of racial discrimination and a perpetrator at the same time,” adding, “It shows a dual attitude by ranking foreigners from developed countries with developed economies and culture and foreigners from underdeveloped countries.” Regarding the political world in particular, he said, “(Politicians) have to vote for their opponents in order to be elected, and discussions and dialogue have disappeared due to extreme confrontation and factional fighting.” He added, “Every time there is an election, hateful speech is made to isolate women, the disabled, immigrants, and sexual minorities. “I’m hitting the board,” he said. (syncopation)
Chairman Lee, who is from the Philippines, met her Korean husband while attending college and they married in 1995. He came to Korea the following year and acquired Korean citizenship two years later. He campaigned for migrant women's rights for about 30 years, and was elected as the 15th proportional representative of the Saenuri Party in the 2012 general election, becoming the first naturalized member of the National Assembly in Korea. In the 21st National Assembly, he took over the position of proportional representative member of the Justice Party and participated in legislative activities for about four months.
Three women nominated for new Supreme Court Justices... Candidates include Park Soon-young, Yoon Seung-eun, and Lee Sook-yeon.
Kim Se-won, Women News, 24.06.14
Attention is focused on three female candidates among the nine final candidates to succeed Justices Kim Sun-soo, Lee Dong-won, and Noh Jeong-hee, who are retiring in August.
On the 13th, the Supreme Court Justice Candidate Recommendation Committee selected nine Supreme Court Justice candidates and recommended them to Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae. Among the nine final candidates, three are women: Park Soon-young (57, 25th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), judge of the Seoul High Court, Seung-eun Yoon (56, 23rd class), chief judge of the Seoul High Court, and Lee Sook-yeon (55th, 26th class), judge of the Patent Court High Court. was recommended.
Judge Park Soon-young graduated from Korea University Law School and began her judicial career as a judge at the Daejeon District Court. She later served as a trial researcher at the Supreme Court and the Incheon Division of the Seoul High Court. In March 2021, she was nominated as a member of the National Election Commission, a position she holds concurrently with her position as a Seoul High Court judge.
Chief Judge Seung-eun Yoon graduated from Seoul National University Law School, and she was the first female judge to be appointed as a deliberation officer at the Court Administration in 2005. In addition, she served as head of the Jeju District Court, Suwon District Court, Seoul Central District Court, Daejeon High Court, and the court library.
Judge Sook-yeon Lee graduated from the Department of Industrial Engineering at Pohang National University of Technology. She served at the Jeju District Court, Seoul High Court, Seoul Central District Court, Information Technology Deliberation Officer at the Court Administration, and the Changwon Division of the Busan High Court. She currently serves as the president of the Korea Artificial Intelligence Research Society, one of the research societies under the Supreme Court, and as an adjunct professor in the Department of Computer Science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
Currently, out of the 14 Supreme Court Justices, only three are women: Justices Noh Jeong-hee, Oh Gyeong-mi, and Shin Sook-hee. This number is less than 30% of all Supreme Court justices. Even so, when Justice Noh Jeong-hee's term ends on August 1, the number of female Supreme Court Justices will be reduced to two. Accordingly, concerns are growing over the diversity issue in the composition of the Supreme Court justices.
“I thought that if I couldn’t hold on, my juniors wouldn’t have a chance.” Lee Oh-sook, the first female firefighter, Jeonbuk Fire Department Chief
Park Yong-pil, Kyunghyang Shinmun, 24.06.26
“It would be nice to pave the way for our juniors.”
This is what Lee Oh-sook (57), head of the Jeonbuk Fire Department, heard when she received an offer to transfer to the National Emergency Management Agency when she was working as a rescue and emergency chief at the eastern Daejeon fire station in 2009. Previously, there were no female executives at the headquarters of the National Emergency Management Agency (currently the National Fire Agency). She was assigned to the Fire Equipment Department of the Disaster and Safety Administration, and she became the first female executive (firefighter - general rank 6 equivalent) working at the headquarters. She said, “She went into it with the thought that if she couldn’t endure, her juniors might not have a chance.”
Last month, she became the first woman to be promoted to fire inspector (equivalent to level 2 general rank) and was appointed head of the Jeonbuk Fire Department. Of the 70,000 or so fire officials, only five, including the fire chief, are now higher than her. She was also ‘the first female spokesperson for the National Fire Agency,’ ‘the first female fire chief in Daegu and Gyeongbuk,’ and ‘the first female 119 safety center director in Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province.’
Among civil servant organizations, the one with the highest proportion of men is the fire department. I met her at the Jeonbuk Fire Department Headquarters on the 21st as she broke through her thickest ‘glass ceiling.’
“Influenced by her father, who was a volunteer fire chief, she became a fire officer in 1988,” she said. She says it was because “her father, who would gather people and rush to the scene of a forest fire,” looked cool. However, she refused to work with women in the department she was assigned to, so she was not assigned and had to work in another department.
The task entrusted to her, who became dependent on her ‘sack of barley,’ was to ‘serve documents’. But she did her best. At the same time she found work for herself.
She said, “If a senior in the human resources department looked like he had a lot of work, I filled out the personnel record card on his behalf. Instead of a senior in the civil affairs department, I filed simple complaints such as ‘reporting the replacement of the building’s fire department manager.’ To put it nicely, he was a ‘libero’ (laughter).” One day her department head, who had rejected her, offered to take her back. “I thought he changed his mind when he saw me working.”
I also pioneered my own career path. At the time, it was difficult for women to be promoted by review because they were not allowed to take on key positions, so she prepared for her promotion exam. This, she said, enabled her to advance faster than other female seniors and set the stage for her to become the ‘first woman’ to advance to a senior position. She said, “If my husband or family hadn’t helped me with housework and childcare, I wouldn’t have been able to even think about working late into the night or studying for promotion exams. In an era when it was taken for granted for women to take care of childcare and housework, I was luckier than other female seniors.” She said.
The paramedic who saved the lives of five people through CPR during her lifetime gave new lives to five people even on her final journey.
Lee Yu-jin, Hankyoreh, 24.06.19
Kim So-young (45), who has worked as a firefighter and paramedic for 20 years and saved countless lives, saved five people on her final journey.
The Korea Organ Donation Agency announced on the 18th that Ms. Kim donated her heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys (both sides) as a brain-dead organ donation at Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju on the 23rd of last month.
On the 6th of last month, Ms. Kim fell unconscious at home and was taken to the hospital, but did not regain consciousness and fell into a brain-dead state. Ms. Kim's family decided to donate her organs to uphold her wishes, as she had worked as a firefighter and paramedic for 20 years and saved countless lives. Even at the end of her life, she wanted to save other lives through organ donation.
Born as the youngest of one son and one daughter in Gwangju Metropolitan City, Kim was bright and lively, always smiling and active in everything. Ms. Kim, who was very proud of being a firefighter paramedic, received five ‘Heart Saver’ certificates, which are awarded for saving a cardiac arrest patient through CPR. She also received a commendation from the Jeollanam-do Medical Association for her active work at various disaster sites. Ms. Kim was completing her PhD and writing her thesis in Psychological Counseling when she helped her stressed-out colleagues with firefighting and rescue efforts.
“The first woman to become the president of the Energy Society... “We will also lead the research and development of ‘C·C·C-Tech’”
Park Su-jin, Munhwa Ibo, 24.06.28
Dr. Ahn Ji-Hwan (Chief Researcher) of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, famous as Korea's first female resource engineer, became the first female president of the Korea Institute of Energy Research this year. Chairman Ahn's inauguration is attracting great attention not only because she is the first woman to take office, but also because, amidst a major shift in the energy paradigm toward green and carbon neutrality, a scientist in the waste resource and circular economy field, which was previously considered a minority research field, is now leading the academic society. In the early 1990s, limestone, which has abundant reserves but little added value, was reborn through the synthesis technology of 'precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC)', which is used for over 300 purposes such as papermaking and medicine, and became 'Midas with the magic hand of turning waste by-products into resources'.
Chairman Ahn, who was nicknamed 'Touch', is the head of the government's Carbon Mineral Flagship Project and is working to reduce carbon dioxide using carbon mineralization (a method in which carbon dioxide (CO₂) is converted to carbonate minerals through a chemical reaction and stored) technology. Last May, Chairman Ahn’s ‘Direct Atmospheric Capture (DAC)’ source technology was selected as one of the ‘Top 100 Technologies’ by the ‘Xprize’ Foundation, sponsored by Elon Musk, and is being recognized globally. In an interview with Munhwa Ilbo held at the Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon on the 24th, Chairman Ahn said, “We are responding to climate change, including climate, carbon, and clean, which are necessary as we transition from the traditional energy industry to the future energy industry.” “We will take the lead in becoming a ‘first mover’ leading ‘technology (C-tech industry)’ research and development (R&D),” he said. “Our goal is to foster industries and create new markets for a fundamental solution to the climate crisis and carbon neutrality.” “We will do our best to globalize the future energy convergence field.” (syncopation)
―I think majoring in resource engineering was not common in the 1980s. Is there a special reason why you studied resource engineering and especially researched the field of waste recycling?
“My high school homeroom teacher saw that I liked earth science and recommended it. When she enrolled, she was the first female student in the department in 30 years since it was opened. Among the 120 people, except me, all of them were male students. In 1988, she joined the Geological Resources Research Institute, and after the researcher in Seoul came down to the Daejeon research complex here in the first year of her marriage, she continued her research by commuting from Seoul to Daejeon. She mainly studied coal and briquettes, which were the mainstays in those days, wearing a white gown and covered in black ashes. Then, during graduate school, she happened to visit Japan, where she saw that high value-added precipitated calcium carbonate was being actively manufactured using limestone, and she was inspired to pursue her research.
When limestone goes through a chemical process such as heating it at a high temperature of 1,200 degrees or combining it with water, pure crystalline nanoparticles are produced, which are precipitated calcium carbonate. At that time, limestone in Korea cost around 2,000 to 3,000 won and was mainly used for steelmaking or cement. Even if it was made of cement, it was a material with little price fluctuation and little added value, with one bag costing around 50,000 to 70,000 won. On the other hand, Japan has monopolized each process technology for 80 years, using precipitated calcium carbonate made from limestone in a variety of products such as paper and plastics, while the United States has been expanding its use to the medical sector, such as using it as a processing capsule for pharmaceutical products.”
‘For all that breathes on this earth’ by Jeong Young-seon, ‘the first female landscape engineer’
Lee Young-kyoung, Kyunghyang Shinmun, 24.06.28
“Landscaping is a comprehensive science that takes care of the environment.” Youngsun Jeong, 48, speaks in an interview with her magazine. Articles titled ‘No. 1 Female Landscape Technician’ and ‘Power Woman’ can be seen at the entrance to the ‘Jeong Young-seon: For All That Lives on This Earth’ exhibition hall at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. At the time, Young-sun Jeong was the head of the landscape design office Seoan and had completed major projects such as the Seoul Arts Center, Asian Sports Park, and the Athletes' Village. She was a pioneer in Korean landscaping, and she raised landscaping, which had been considered only a secondary element of architecture, to a position on par with architecture.
Her exhibition includes her materials on about 60 of the 300 projects she was in charge of. Most of the materials, including pastel, pencil, and watercolor sketches, blueprints, design drawings, photos, videos, and models, are being released to the public for the first time. This is an exhibition that not only surprises you with the scale, diversity, and beauty of the projects, but also allows you to read Jeong Young-seon's philosophy of landscaping, thoughts on the land and nature, and considerations on ecology and the global environment that run through numerous projects.
This is the first time that an exhibition related to landscaping has been held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Young-sun Jeong said, “It is an ecstatic and miraculous thing to hold an exhibition in our field. Until now, landscaping was considered only an afterthought to architecture. “As a senior, she did not hesitate to step forward despite her embarrassment and shame at the thought of having to pave the way for her younger students,” she said.
Pak Se-ri appears as a commentator for the Paris Olympics... “It wasn’t an easy time, but we started again.”
Lee Hye-won, Donga Ilbo, 24.06.26
‘Golf Empress’ Pak Se-ri, chairman of the Pak Se-ri Hope Foundation, will overcome the pain of her father’s lawsuit and become a KBS golf commentator for the Paris Summer Olympics.
On the 26th, Chairman Pak said at the ‘2024 Paris Olympics KBS Broadcasting Team Launching Ceremony’ held at the KBS New Building in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, “I have had a difficult time with various things going on these days,” and added, “I plan to start working hard again.”
On this day, Chairman Pak refrained from saying as much as possible about the conflict with her father and pledged to “give clear and accurate commentary” as the first Olympic commentator. She explained, “I have been on site as an Olympic coach, but this is my first time as a commentator,” adding, “I am preparing to capture the feeling of the event by thinking from the athlete’s perspective as much as possible.”
“If Michelle Obama runs, she will overwhelm Trump”... Pressure for Biden to resign increases
Kim Kyoung-hee, Yonhap News, 24.07.03
According to the results of a poll conducted by CNN on the 2nd and announced on the 2nd by commissioning public opinion polling agency SSRS to survey 1,274 voters on the 28th and 30th of last month (local time) after the first debate between President Biden and former President Trump. When President Eden and former President Trump faced off, the two candidates recorded approval ratings of 43% and 49%, respectively.
On the other hand, in a hypothetical confrontation between Vice President Harris and former President Trump, former President Trump had an approval rating of 47% and Vice President Harris had an approval rating of 45%, which was a close race within the margin of error (±3.5%).
Vice President Harris was particularly strong among women and independents.
When President Biden faced off against former President Trump, only 44% of female respondents supported President Biden, while 50% of female respondents confirmed their support for Vice President Harris, and among independents, only 34% supported President Biden. However, 43% were favorable to Vice President Harris. (syncopation)
If former President Trump were to face off against former President Barack Obama's wife Michelle Obama, who has been consistently raised as an alternative candidate for the Democratic Party in some quarters, it was found that Mrs. Obama would dominate former President Trump (39%) with an approval rating of 50%.
Even after Mrs. Obama left the White House, she continued to communicate with Americans through her writing of books and confirmed unwavering public support.
Austrian woman rejects ‘golden spoon’, returns 37 billion won inheritance to environmental and human rights organizations
Choi Hye-rin, Kyunghyang Shinmun, 24.06.19
An Austrian woman in her 30s who inherited a large amount of property from her grandmother is making headlines by donating most of her inheritance to civic groups.
According to the BBC and Germany's Tagess Spiegel on the 18th (local time), Marlene Engelhorn (32), a German-Austrian woman, said that she returned 25 million euros (about 37 billion won) that she inherited to 77 civic organizations.
“She redistributed most of her inheritance, which was given to me simply because she was born like a lottery, in accordance with democratic values,” she said in a statement released today by Engelhorn. It was not confirmed how much her inheritance was initially, but Engelhorn said her donation was “almost all” of the inheritance.
Born in 1992, she is a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, who founded the German chemical and pharmaceutical company BASF. In September 2022, upon the death of her grandmother, Traudl Engelhorn, she inherited her vast inheritance. Even before her grandmother's death, she attracted attention by saying that receiving her inheritance was "her birth lottery" and that she would give back about 90% of her inherited wealth.
She decided not to inherit because of a long-standing decision. Engel Horn is someone who has been vocal about the importance of wealth redistribution. With her awareness of this issue, she co-founded Tax Me Now, a coalition advocating for increased taxes on the wealthy. She has also called for the reinstatement of Austria's inheritance tax, which has been abolished since 2008.
She said Engelhorn has been pushing the distribution of her assets in earnest since last January. At the time, she said, “If politicians do not do their job properly, I will redistribute wealth myself. Many citizens work and pay taxes regularly, but I do not pay taxes even though I inherited a large amount of money without any effort. “This is a failure of politics,” she said.
Daughter of Cameroon's president, who outlawed homosexuality, comes out on social media
Choi Hye-rin, Kyunghyang Shinmun, 24.07.04
In Cameroon, Africa, where homosexuality is illegal, the daughter of the incumbent president revealed her same-sex lover on social networking services (SNS). The controversy is growing because it is none other than her father who has maintained the policy of punishing homosexuality in this country.
According to the BBC on the 3rd (local time), Cameroon's President's daughter Brenda Villa posted a photo of herself kissing a woman on her Instagram on the 30th of last month, the last day of her 'Pride Month' (LGBTQ Human Rights Month). Raised it. In the post, she said Brenda, “I love you like crazy and I want the world to know.” Brenda is the first daughter of Cameroonian President Paul Biya's four children. She lives abroad and has worked as a singer.
Afterwards, there was a series of reactions asking if Brenda had revealed her gender identity, and she virtually admitted it by sharing an article from her foreign press that said, “The daughter of the president of Cameroon came out.”
Cameroon prohibits homosexuality by law and is one of the countries with the strongest punishment for sexual minorities. In particular, President Biya is attracting more attention in that he is the person responsible for enacting discriminatory policies against sexual minorities while in power for the past 42 years.
Cameroon first introduced an anti-homosexuality law in 1972. President Biya, who began his term in 1982, also adhered to this policy. Under this law, Cameroon prohibits all types of homosexual activity. Violators are subject to high fines or up to five years in prison. In response, Human Rights Watch warned Cameroon to “take urgent action to abolish discriminatory laws and ensure that all sexual orientations and gender identities are respected.”
In response to this, Brenda’s post received a comment saying, ‘Your father is the one who led the charge against homophobia.’ Brenda responded to this point by saying, “In the end, love will win. He replied, “I do not tolerate hatred,” Cameroon’s CNA news agency reported. Currently, the comment window is closed.
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