EDITOR’S LETTER
Hello. This is the third NEWS HERLIVERY in August, back with REPORT EDITION. In this issue, we focus on the deepfake sexual crime case that used Telegram as its main platform. In the last issue, we reported on the deepfake sexual crime case that occurred at Seoul National University and Inha University, but in this issue, we diagnosed the reality that deepfake sexual crimes using similar methods are occurring not only at certain schools but nationwide, and collected expert opinions on the causes and methods of eradication.
The '2024 International Korean Peninsula Forum', which British Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks declared a boycott due to the extreme gender inequality of the panel, has belatedly changed the composition of the presentation and discussion panel. It was revealed that a current Chosun Ilbo editorial writer and a National Intelligence Service employee have been sexually harassing female reporters who usually meet through text messages.
In the first story of the Kyunghyang Shinmun’s series on dating violence, “We Can’t Lose Anymore,” we heard about Na Jong-gi’s daily life and feelings after losing his two daughters to dating violence. Seoul Institute of the Arts, which was heavily criticized for requiring a urine test record during menstrual leave, has withdrawn the regulation. We look back at the history of how the 1975 Women’s Strike, considered the first step toward women’s liberation in Iceland, was successful.
Members of the Republican Party, considered orthodox, have declared their support for Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, not their party’s presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump. The Taliban, which rules Afghanistan, has promulgated a law for the first time prohibiting women from speaking out or exposing their bare faces in public places. According to this law, women cannot use public transportation or travel alone.
NEWS HERLIVERY This is the end of the news prepared for this issue. While curating this issue of news, I had to once again feel anger and despair at the reality of women having to conduct their daily lives amidst male violence that threatens their safety and survival. However, I gained courage and hope from the existence of women who tirelessly move forward and change the world. I will come back with more diverse and in-depth articles in the next letter. Thank you.
- Best Wishes, Editor So Won
British Ambassador Boycotts GKF… “Accepting Important Values” One Day After ‘International Disgrace’
The '2024 International Korean Peninsula Forum', one of the seven promotion plans of President Yoon Seok-yeol's 'August 15 Unification Doctrine', supplemented its female panel just one day after its 'international humiliation'.
According to the Ministry of Unification's 2024 International Korean Peninsula Forum homepage on the 30th, the composition of the presentation and discussion panel, which was originally 20 men and 1 woman out of 21 members, has been changed. Six women were added, increasing the total to 27. Out of 27 members, there are 20 men and 7 women, which means the female ratio has increased from 4% to 22%.
The additional members are Kwon Bo-ram, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, Ahn In-hae, a professor at Renmin University of China, Lee Ho-ryeong, director of the Security Strategy Research Center at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, Jeong Gu-yeon, a professor at Kangwon National University, Jeong Eun-chan, a professor at the National Institute for Unification Education, and Hyun In-ae, director of the Korean Peninsula Future Research Institute.
Considering that British Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks’s non-attendance was announced on the evening of the 28th, and the recruitment on the 29th and the website launch on the morning of the 30th, it seems that the ‘corrective’ measures took less than 24 hours. A Ministry of Unification official said, “We have accepted the point that it should be operated in accordance with the value of gender equality.” (Omitted)
British Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks was asked to attend the event panel, but he publicly announced on the 28th that he would not attend due to the extreme gender inequality of the panel, causing an uproar both inside and outside the government. Regardless of whether it is hosted by the government or the private sector, the sight of presentations or discussion halls related to diplomacy, unification, and security being filled only with former male bureaucrats and male professors, and this is even more unusual under the Yoon Seok-yeol government, which came to power while claiming that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is useless and that gender inequality has disappeared. Furthermore, since the government seeks conservative-leaning panelists, the composition of the panelists tends to narrow even further. Because of this, Ambassador Crooks's universal and obvious point by international standards was being accepted 'again', and there was a growing view inside and outside the government that there were other reasons behind the situation.
(Kim Yejin, Segye Ilbo, 24.08.30)
Korea is the top country for deepfake sexual exploitation materials... 53% of characters are Korean, 99% are women
A foreign security company's survey results show that about half of the characters appearing in deepfake sexual exploitation materials are Korean.
Security service company 'Security Hero' recently released a report titled '2023 Deepfake Status' and stated that Korea is the country most vulnerable to deepfake sexual exploitation materials.
The report analyzed 85 deepfake channels on the top 10 deepfake porn websites and YouTube and Dailymotion from July to August last year and stated that 53% of the characters appearing in deepfake sexual exploitation materials were Korean nationals. This was a significant gap from the second-place United States (20%) and third-place Japan (10%).
The report stated that 8 out of the top 10 characters used in deepfake sexual exploitation materials were Korean singers. Among them, singer A, who ranked first, was used in 1,595 sexual exploitation materials, and the number of views reached 5.61 million. The report did not disclose the list of victims due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The number of deepfake sexual exploitation videos is increasing every year. According to the report, there were 3,725 deepfake sexual exploitation videos produced in 2022, and 21,019 in 2023, a 464% increase. As of 2023, 95,820 deepfake videos were confirmed online, and 98% of them were deepfake sexual exploitation videos. The report said that 7 out of the top 10 adult websites had deepfake sexual exploitation videos.
The main characters in deepfake sexual exploitation videos were women. “Gender plays a major role in selecting characters in deepfake videos,” the report said. “99% of deepfake sexual videos feature women as the main characters, while only 1% feature men.”
The report pointed out that with the advancement of technology, it takes less than 25 minutes to create a 1-minute-long deepfake sexual exploitation video for free with just one good photo of a face. Of the 42 websites and applications that could create deepfakes, about 33% offered AI technology to create sexual videos. Most of the platforms were free to use, while others were commercializing them by requiring purchases or subscriptions to use more sophisticated technologies.
Of the 1,522 American men who viewed deepfake sexual exploitation videos at least once in the past six months, 74% said they did not feel guilty. Of those, 36% said they did so because they “knew it wasn’t a person,” and 30% said they did so because “if it was for personal use, it wouldn’t harm anyone.”
(Kim Song-i, Kyunghyang Shinmun, 24.08.28)
From ‘Soranet’ to ‘Deepfake Sexual Exploitation’, Repeated Digital Sexual Crimes… “We Could Have Stopped It”
The society is seething with anger over ‘illegal synthetic (deepfake) sexual exploitation materials.’ This is not the first time that digital sexual exploitation materials have caused an uproar in South Korea. Digital sexual exploitation cases have been brought to the forefront several times in the past 10 years, including Soranet in 2015, the Webhard Cartel and Dark Web in 2018, and the ‘nth room’ in 2020. Experts are viewing the current situation as a ‘state of national crisis,’ emphasizing strong punishment, improvement of the legal system, and sex education, and urging cooperation across all sectors of society to prevent recurrence. (Omitted)
Professor Son said, “In the past, Soranet was a place where people would praise each other for uploading illegally filmed photos and videos,” and “It is connected to the play culture within the attention economy.” She continued, “We need to thoroughly examine why men, especially young men, are recognized and enjoy this way, and why women’s bodies are considered exchangeable objects in this play culture.”
In particular, her diagnosis is that the recently revealed ‘deepfake sexual exploitation material’ incident is also in the context of ‘feminism backlash’ (a psychological and behavioral backlash against social and political changes). Professor Son explained, “In some Telegram chat rooms, there was talk about women’s rights being too advanced,” and “Deepfake photos are shared under the name of ‘humiliation room.’ It is a sentiment of punishing women by humiliating them.”
She explained, “It is a very strange form of desire. It does not stop at watching pornography, but it is about treating women I know carelessly and trampling on them.” In fact, in some Telegram chat rooms, conversations such as “Women’s rights should be improved moderately,” and “Treat them like people by giving them human rights” were exchanged.
There were also opinions that the complacent attitude of investigative and judicial agencies led to the repetition of digital sex crimes. Heo Min-sook, a legislative researcher at the National Assembly Research Service, pointed out that “investigative agencies have been saying things like ‘Telegram’s servers are overseas, so it’s hard to find suspects,’” and that “this attitude has actually instilled in the perpetrators the perception that they won’t be caught if they use Telegram.”
In fact, the investigation into the ‘Nth Room’ incident was not properly launched until after the revelations of the ‘Tracking Team Spark’ activists, the investigation began in earnest. However, only 12.4% of the 378 ‘Nth Room’ participants who were identified as suspects were sentenced to prison, and the suspended sentence rate was only 69.1%.
Heo criticized, “The judiciary gave the perpetrators a slap on the wrist. When the perpetrators saw this, they realized that they were not caught or punished for their crimes. It was as if society had allowed them to do it.”
(Shin Da-in, Women News, 24.08.29)
'Spreading like a play culture'... Why are there so many deepfake sex crimes among teenagers?
Experts say that teenagers are a large proportion of deepfake digital sex crimes, and this is not something new.
According to the 'Deepfake Crime Status' released by the office of People Power Party Rep. Cho Eun-hee at the request of the National Police Agency, among the 120 suspects arrested for false video footage last year, 91 (75.8%) were teenagers. In 2022, teenagers accounted for a high proportion of 61%. This year, from January to July, they accounted for 73.6%, which is also a high level.
Center Director Lee Myeong-hwa diagnosed that deepfake has already "spread like a form of play culture" among teenagers, and "there is a tendency to use it as a prank or plaything among peers."
Attorney Seo Hye-jin, the chair of the Special Committee on Children and Youth at the Korean Women Lawyers Association, also revealed that juvenile perpetrators tend to think of deepfake sex crimes as "play to gain recognition from their peers."
D, a member of the solidarity movement who has been anonymously working to support victims of sexual crimes, said that teenagers’ participation in these crimes should not be viewed as “a simple matter of sexual desire or curiosity.”
She continued that perpetrators clearly “recognize that their actions are criminal,” and cited “the fact that they commonly say that they won’t be caught” as the reason.
This trend is also revealed in the 2022 Cyber Violence Survey Report conducted by the Korea Communications Commission on teenagers.
When asked about the “cause of the spread and reproduction of digital sexual crimes,” teenagers most frequently chose “weak punishment” and “no fear of being caught due to the anonymity of the Internet.” On the other hand, the response rate for the item “thinking it’s nothing special” was the lowest.
Experts agree that teenagers recognize that deepfakes are a crime, but they have learned that punishment is weak and there is no fear of being caught, which has led to the current situation.
Attorney Seo pointed out that the number of deepfake crimes that were actually “punished as crimes was very small” and that “the police’s will to investigate was low.”
(Lee Sun-wook, BBC Korea, 24.08.29)
Lawmakers' Ignorance That Deepfakes Are 'Works of Art'
Let’s think about it from the victim’s perspective. How is the shock of seeing my body secretly or forcibly filmed different from seeing something that is not my actual body but is not clearly a composite? What is the difference between filming illegally or making an illegal composite from the victim’s perspective? What about consumption? If such a photo or video is a composite, is it better for someone else to see or have it than to have the actual thing? Let’s assume that the composite is in relatively poor condition. Would that be any consolation? All crimes begin and end with the creation of criminal proceeds. Digital sex crimes are no different. Furthermore, consumption of digital sex crimes contributes more actively to the distribution process. At the time, the relevant provisions did not even define viewing and storage as crimes.
Although the legislature did not actively discuss the relevant provisions, the meeting records, which included the Vice Minister of Justice and the Vice Minister of the Court Administration, reveal the legislative body’s ignorance about the flow of deepfake crimes and the damages suffered by victims. Even if it is not intended for distribution, the issue that personal rights and self-determination rights may be violated was ignored by the strict opinions of legal professionals who said that it is possible to create something that is considered a work of art or that it is excessive to punish teenagers for working alone on their computers. I do not think that crimes that have been recognized as wrong for a long time, such as murder, theft, and assault, should not be punished because the perpetrators are young or may think it is a joke. However, when it comes to sexual crimes, I worry that the perpetrators may not know that they are wrong. In order to punish and prevent crimes, we should focus on the damage suffered by the victim, but the possibility of the perpetrators’ ignorance overwhelms this. This behavior of legislators who are concerned about and considerate of the perpetrators’ position stands out especially in sexual crimes, especially digital sexual crimes. Ironically, these people are not the generation that grew up experiencing digital technology. The generosity of these legislators is not actually due to the ignorance of the perpetrators, but rather to their own ignorance. They are the only ones who do not know this. This ignorance is packaged as a plausible reason that the law functions to maintain social order along with the implementation of justice. Unfortunately, such a lenient law on the perpetrator creates a huge legislative vacuum in a society that is rapidly changing and disrupts social order from the front. This is the deepfake incident that shocked our society this week.
(Lee Eun-ui, Women News, 24.08.29)
Deepfake Sexual Crime Spread to Journalists: “An Act of Violence That Suppresses Criticism”
As deepfake sexual crimes based on Telegram spread to reporters, media organizations such as the Korea Press Association and the Korea Women Journalists Association released statements condemning it.
On the 30th, the Korea Press Association released a statement titled <Digital sexual crimes against journalists are acts of violence that undermine freedom of the press> and stated, “Deepfake crimes are sexual crimes that use digital technology to humiliate specific individuals, and they are clear acts of violence that threaten the safety of journalists and undermine freedom of the press.” They added, “We strongly condemn this and request active responses from the government and civil society to prevent recurrence as follows.”
On the 30th, the Korea Women Journalists Association released a statement titled <Deepfake sexual crimes targeting female journalists are absolutely unacceptable> and stated, “We cannot help but be appalled by the vicious deepfake sexual crimes targeting female journalists,” and added, “If this is left unattended, there is a high possibility that attacks will be made against all journalists who cover issues with different opinions, and we believe that this will ultimately be violence that silences the media.”
Recently, a controversy arose on Telegram when a ‘reporter synthesis room’ was created with the presumed purpose of creating and distributing false sexual images using the faces of reporters who covered deepfake sexual crime cases. Conversations such as, “Reporters have to suffer too so they don’t talk nonsense,” “Should we start with reporter OOO?” and “Please focus on pretty people.” These groups demanded: △an immediate investigation and strong legal action by the authorities, △revision of legislation on punishment for digital sexual crimes, and △expanded self-regulation by platform operators. Deepfake is a compound word of ‘deep learning,’ an artificial intelligence technology, and ‘fake,’ meaning fake. The problem of copying faces from everyday photos of people around us and synthesizing them into sexual images has recently come to light.
(Park Jae-ryong, Media Today, 24.08.30)
Chosun Ilbo Editorial Writer-National Intelligence Service Employee Shares Photo of Female Reporter and Sexually Harasss Her
It was revealed that a current Chosun Ilbo editorial writer and a National Intelligence Service employee shared photos of female reporters they were close with and engaged in sexually harassing conversations. At least three cases of victimization have been confirmed so far.
According to comprehensive reporting on the 20th, Chosun Ilbo editorial writer A and National Intelligence Service employee B exchanged sexual comments via text messages to female reporters they usually met with.
Editorial writer A, who has worked in the media for a long time, and B, who has experience working in the National Intelligence Service spokesperson’s office, held multiple meetings with reporters from various media outlets. Female reporters belonging to these multiple meetings became victims of sexual harassment, and some repetitive patterns were confirmed in the related conversations. (Omitted)
In these conversations, A usually sent B a photo of a specific female reporter, and then the sexual harassment continued. For example, when A sent a photo of a female reporter at a dinner table, B responded, “It looks delicious.” After that, while A used expressions such as “chewy” and “watery style,” B engaged in conversations that suggested sexual acts such as “it’s going to cum” and “it’s going to be slapped.”
In this way, in the A-B conversation, the female reporter was summoned as a means or tool for providing sexual satisfaction. For example, there was a case where A shared a photo of a female reporter at another dinner with B and sent a message saying, “I’m about to cum.” B responded, “I want to cum.”
The sexual harassment conversation continued during work hours while reporting. When A, who had visited the office, shared a photo of a female reporter in the center, B mentioned the reporter’s appearance, and after A said, “Go to the bathroom,” B responded, “You have to go twice…” This continued with conversations that also implied sexual acts.
The female reporter’s SNS photos were also shared in a sexual context. When A captured a photo of the female reporter’s face and New Year’s greetings from the female reporter’s personal SNS and shared it, B said, “I’m sick, but I can make it better, haha.” On the day when A shared a photo showing the full body of a female reporter and said, “Have a nice evening,” B replied, “You’re so slender^^ I want to lick you.”
(Roh Ji-min, Media Today, 24.08.21)
Where is the ‘home’ of victims of incestuous sexual violence?
Four locations nationwide. This is the total number of special support facilities (special facilities) where children who are victims of sexual violence by relatives can stay. Special facilities opened in Gyeongbuk and Gyeongnam in 2010, and in Gyeonggi and Daejeon in 2014. Each facility houses 10 to 15 people. The specific addresses are ‘undisclosed’ to protect the victims.
If a child who is a victim of sexual violence by relatives wishes, he or she can stay here until he or she becomes an adult. The facilities in Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk also operate self-reliance support group living facilities so that adult victims can prepare for independence without leaving the facility.
Among child abuse cases, facilities for children who are victims of sexual violence by close family members are as lacking in government support and interest as they are in number. The workload of workers is increasing, but the budget is actually being cut. The support network for adult victims is also inadequate. (Omitted)
Should child victims be required to enter a facility if a case of sexual violence by relatives occurs in the home?
Ji Eun-jin: In any case, the principle is that the perpetrator should leave and the victim should remain. However, the characteristics of incestuous sexual violence are different. Even if the perpetrator is arrested, non-perpetrator relatives, such as the mother, grandmother, or aunt, go around saying things to the child who is still at home. “Didn’t Dad say he’s sorry?” “Are you going to feed my son rice because you hit him a little because he’s pretty?” etc. In an attempt to persuade the victimized child, they throw birthday parties that they’ve never done before and buy him all the things he wants. Even without that, the child, who is already psychologically unstable, ends up blaming himself for not retracting his statement when his family cries and begs him like this, or for not being able to. Since it’s realistically impossible to send out all the relatives who commit secondary harm like that, the victimized child has no choice but to be transferred to a facility.
Kim Ok-bun (Director of Gyeongbuk Regional Facility): Of course, the children don’t want to come to the facility. The mere fact that they’re leaving their home, which has been their whole world, must be so unsettling. When they first come here (to the facility), no one trusts them. If you can't even trust your own mom and dad, who can you trust? If you ask them later, "When did you decide to live here?", they will answer, "When I thought that I could live well like my sister someday" while looking at the sisters who live with them. If you ask a seven-year-old what she wants to do in the future, she will not say what job she wants to do, but will answer, "Sister ○○." Sharing each other's pain and comforting each other is healing in itself.
(Na Kyung-hee, Sisain, 24.08.28)
“If anything changes, I want to commit suicide” - The cry of a father who lost two daughters
The two daughters he had when he was twenty and twenty-one, right after graduating from high school, were his treasures. They never caused any major trouble while growing up. When he went out on the street, people said they were like friends rather than father and daughter, and even in his forties, his sisters called him “dad” instead of “father.” To Na Jong-gi (64), his daughters were such precious and affectionate beings.
“When we were young, it was hard to make a living, and we didn’t receive much love from our parents. That was on my mind, so I gave them everything I could. I bought them bananas when they were more expensive than a bowl of jajangmyeon, and I sent them to college because I regretted not being able to go. I just ‘went all in.’”
September 4, 1980, September 2, 1981. The sisters, who were born two years apart, left together when they left. From the night of June 25 to the early morning of the 26th, 2020, the second daughter, Geum-ju, and the first daughter, Jeong-eun, lost their lives one after another. They were killed by Geum-ju’s ex-lover.
When Geum-ju got drunk and scolded him in an apartment in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, her lover, Mr. A (37), became enraged and strangled her sleeping lover to death. Fearing that the crime would be discovered, he hid in the house of his sister, who lived on a different floor of the same apartment, and strangled her to death as well.
After stealing his sister’s cell phone, credit card, and car, he ran away and calmly contacted people around him to make it seem like his sister was alive, and he also committed additional crimes such as withdrawing money from an ATM. Mr. A was sentenced to life imprisonment in both the first and second trials. In 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal, confirming the original verdict, and he is currently serving his sentence. (Omitted)
When a crime occurs, the active investigation and arrest of investigative agencies, support or protection of the judicial system, and punishment of the perpetrator have a direct impact on the victim and the bereaved family. This is because they can see whether the country is functioning well as a social safety net. If there is no effort to see the structural cause of the problem even though similar incidents continue to occur, the victim and the bereaved family will distrust the social system and become frustrated with the unchanging reality.
This is also why Mr. Na keeps saying, “I am the only one who can be trusted in this world.” After the incident, he said, “I looked for evidence here and there as if I were a police officer.” He was also the one who discovered and submitted additional small-sum payment records of Mr. A’s mobile phone during the period of his escape that the police had not yet discovered. After seeing the perpetrator repeatedly submit a statement of reflection in court and “holding his head up straight without even blinking at the victim’s bereaved family,” he also wrote a handwritten petition every time. Nevertheless, Mr. Na said, “I regret it.” “I stayed quiet when the court told me to ‘be quiet.’ I regret not having raised my voice at that time. If anything changes, I feel like I want to commit suicide in front of the presidential office in Yongsan.”
He said, “When I see young people these days, I just want to tell them not to date or get married.” “Even if they meet the wrong man and die unjustly, the government doesn’t take any responsibility. How many people have died before and after our children died? This is the result of the government not giving any warning messages to the perpetrators. If something similar happens again, we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again, but there’s nothing like that. That’s why people keep saying it’s okay to beat them or kill them.”
The wounds of the people left behind continue to fester as they see people like their daughters die every day. Na currently lives separately from her family. Her wife and granddaughter live with her in another area, but she only visits their house once every two months. She makes the excuse that she has to travel around the country for work, but the truth is that it’s hard to bear seeing a mother who lost her daughter and a daughter who lost her mother living together. The grandmother and granddaughter sympathize with each other’s pain, but they are deeply depressed and cannot get out of it. The granddaughter, whose mother died when she was in middle school, became a college student but took a leave of absence after only one semester. “I know the general details of the incident because it happened when my granddaughter was in middle school. It’s still hard to see my wife and granddaughter who haven’t come to terms with death,” said Na.
The recovery of those left behind is something that must be borne entirely by the individual. Na sends home about 2 million won a month for his wife and granddaughter’s hospital bills, medicine, and living expenses. His financial difficulties have grown as he has to break his national pension due to the costs of hiring a lawyer and other lawsuits, and his relationships with not only his family but also his coworkers, acquaintances, and friends have been ruined. He said, “Since that day, I have nothing left. I don’t feel happy even when I earn money, I don’t want to meet my friends, and I feel empty.”
“I tried to jump into the Han River and came back twice. But I still hold on. I feel like I have to survive somehow until that bastard comes out. There’s nothing else I can do. There’s nothing I can trust in this Republic of Korea.”
(Kim Jeong-hwa, Kyunghyang Shinmun, 24.08.20)
Seoul Institute of the Arts, which requires a urine test during menstruation, backs off for now
Seoul Institute of the Arts, which was heavily criticized for its school regulation requiring the submission of a diagnosis and medical certificate containing a urine test record to recognize menstrual leave (absence due to official business), has withdrawn the regulation.
On the 21st, Seoul Institute of the Arts posted a notice on its website, stating, “We had intended to make (urine tests) mandatory, but we have withdrawn them due to the lack of medical evidence and emotional difficulties.”
The school also explained why it made urine test results a prerequisite for menstrual leave. The school stated, “During the process of analyzing the cause of the increase in the use of menstrual leave, we found many suspicious cases where some students attempted to receive compensation for missed classes through the system regardless of menstrual pain.” The school concluded, “We judged that acknowledging this while tolerating it would be ignoring the university’s responsibilities as an educational institution.”
They then stated that after discussions with the student council, they confirmed a “difference in perception” regarding the menstrual leave system, and that the second semester would be a period of guidance in which the student council would conduct voluntary self-correction efforts such as campaigns and opinion gathering. While schools perceive menstrual leave as a system that is used only during the menstrual period, students understand it as a comprehensive menstrual leave concept, such as ovulation pain and biological rhythm before and after menstruation.
(Choi Yun-ah, Hankyoreh, 24.08.22)
‘Gender-based wages’ Korea should learn from countries where women’s strikes succeeded
The OECD’s ‘2024 Korea Economic Report’ published in July stated that Korea’s low birth rate and gender wage gap are the most serious among member countries, and cited the ‘work-family imbalance’ that makes it difficult for women to balance economic activity with childbirth and childcare as the main cause.
In fact, Korea has the highest level of education for women among member countries, but the lowest proportion of female managers, and has maintained the top spot in gender wage gap for 27 years since joining the OECD in 1996. Vincent Coen, Director of the OECD Country Analysis Office, criticized Korea, saying, “Korea has become a ‘world champion’ in a field where it should not be a champion,” and emphasized that “most of the gap cannot be explained by observable factors such as education or seniority, which means that discrimination still exists,” and therefore, fundamental changes in norms and practices are necessary.
It is not that there have been no systems and policies to reduce the gap. In 1987, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act was enacted to prohibit discrimination based on gender, and a system such as the female executive quota system was created to expand women’s advancement to high-ranking positions. There is also an expanded childcare leave system and a system to shorten working hours for childcare to support the balance between work and family life. In order to reduce the gender wage gap, the ‘Gender-based Employment Disclosure System’ has been implemented in 509 public institutions, local corporations, and local public corporations since the second half of last year, starting with Seoul.
However, there are still no signs of the gap narrowing. Furthermore, there are common reactions that it is a reverse discrimination system or that women should just choose high-paying jobs. This is due to a lack of experience in understanding that diversity in organizational members and the systems that support it can have a more positive impact on decision-making and performance. (Omitted)
On October 24, 1975, the first step toward women’s liberation in Iceland, 90% of Icelandic women participated in the ‘Women’s Day Off’, and many things have changed over the past 50 years. How on earth was all this possible? I wanted to take a closer look at the background and process leading up to the women’s strike. First, what was the factor that enabled the 1975 women’s strike to succeed by encouraging so many women to participate?
The Icelandic women’s strike was triggered by the UN’s designation of 1975 as the ‘International Women’s Year’, and the promotion of gender equality and women’s rights became official global agendas. In 1968, female workers at the Ford manufacturing plant in Dagenham, England, went on strike for equal status, and in 1970, women’s strikes for equality also took place in the United States. As a result, the first World Conference on Women, hosted by the UN, was held in Mexico, marking a major turning point in the global women’s movement and policy development.
Representatives of the five largest women's organizations in Iceland (totaling 30,000 members) organized a committee with the UN representative to commemorate the Women's Year and organized the Women's Congress, which was held in Reykjavík in June of that year. The Women's Congress brought together many women, including charities, women's trade unions, housewives' associations, and women's political party sections, to discuss common issues. At that time, the radical feminist group Redstockings argued that the women's strike would be a powerful way to raise social awareness of the importance of women's work in the home and at work, and that the strike should raise awareness among women about how their work value and contribution were being degraded because of their gender.
(Jeong Lee Ye-sul, feminist journal Ilda, 24.08.30)
Key Republicans in the US Declare Support for Harris Instead of Trump
Members of the Republican Party, considered orthodox, have declared that they will support Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, not their own presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump.
According to USA Today on the 26th (local time), 238 influential figures who have worked as aides to former Republican presidents and presidential candidates wrote an open letter supporting Vice President Harris. The letter stated that they will vote for Vice President Harris and Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the upcoming November presidential election.
They stated, “We honestly have many ideological differences with Vice President Harris and Governor Walz,” but added, “This is only natural. However, we cannot support the alternative (former President Trump).”
Those who signed the letter include aides who worked for former President George W. Bush, former Senator John McCain, and Senator Mitt Romney, who were Republican presidential candidates. Former President George H. Bush's staff members were also named, some of whom publicly supported President Joe Biden over former President Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
(Kim Seo-young, Kyunghyang Shinmun, 24.08.27)
Afghanistan enacts law banning women's voices and faces in public places
The Taliban, which rules Afghanistan, has promulgated a law for the first time that prohibits women from speaking out and exposing their bare faces in public places.
The Associated Press reported that the Afghan Taliban promulgated the 'Vice and Virtue Law' on the 21st, local time.
After taking control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban established the Ministry of Virtue Promotion and Prevention and suppressed women's rights through various regulations, and this is the first time it has been made into an official law and announced.
The law, which consists of 35 articles, contains the contents of vices prohibited in daily life such as using public transportation, various celebrations, music, and shaving, and the contents of virtues encouraged, and if violated, various punishments such as arrest are imposed.
Article 13 of these are related to women. According to the law, women must always cover their bodies in public places, and in particular, they must cover their faces to avoid seducing others. Clothing must not be thin, short, or tight to the body.
Women must also not sing, recite, or read books loudly in public places. Because women's voices are considered intimate.
Women or men should not look at or be with anyone of the opposite sex who is not related by blood or marriage. Women should not use public transportation or travel alone.
(Jeong Ji-ju, KBS News, 24.08.23)
댓글
의견을 남겨주세요