Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
UN commission urges Korea to withdraw plan to abolish gender ministry
Kim Ki-nam, assistant minister of Planning and Coordination Office at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and head of the Korean delegation to the United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), speaks during a committee session held in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, local time. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
Korea’s human rights advocacy groups and the national human rights watchdog have urged the government to reconsider its plan to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and reinforce gender equality, citing the country's recent trend of gender equality regressing once more.
“The government should immediately withdraw its plan to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and significantly reinforce the ministry’s budget, organizations and powers to enable the country’s ministerial body for gender equality to function effectively,” the Korea Women’s Associations United (KWAU), one of the civil society organizations voicing concerns and recommendations to the Korean government during the U.N. session, said in a statement, Thursday.
The remarks came from the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on South Korea took place in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday (local time).
Adopted in 1979 by the U.N. General Assembly, CEDAW is an international legal instrument that requires member states to eliminate discrimination against women and promote gender equality.
Korea ratified the CEDAW in December 1984 and submits its gender equality policy progress every four years to the U.N.
The Korean delegation was headed by Kim Ki-nam, assistant minister of the Planning and Coordination Office at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and consisted of members from the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
“We are witnessing signs of weakening national gender equality policy after the current administration announced its plan to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. For this year, the national gender equality budget has been drastically reduced,” the National Human Rights Commissioner said in a statement during the CEDAW session.
The commissioner highlighted that the term “women” has been removed from various gender policies while the minister post continues to remain vacant since the resignation of former minister Kim Hyun-sook, last year.
Thus, the ministry “should not be abolished but further strengthened as a ministry dedicated to gender equality,” according to the national human rights watchdog.
In response, the Korean government said it is restructuring ministerial bodies so as to assuage possible gender conflicts more effectively.
Also, the delegation argued that the government promoted gender equality by installing divisions dedicated to gender equality in eight major ministries and establishing a new consultative body comprising gender equality policy officials.
On legislating a comprehensive anti-discrimination law, the delegation said “a total of four bills were proposed by lawmakers and are now pending in the 21st National Assembly,” which requires further “social discussion and consensus.”
According to the NHRCK, Korea lags in gender equality in several sectors. Women make up just 20 percent of the National Assembly's members in the general elections in April this year. Additionally, women are paid only 64 percent of what men earn in wages.
Also, there is no access to safe abortion services although the Constitutional Court decriminalized abortion while various forms of technology have also facilitated a rise in sexual violence here.