Election body slammed for sexist cartoon

By Ko Dong-hwan

The National Election Commission (NEC) came under fire for a promotional cartoon many found derogatory to women.

In the cartoon intended to encourage absentee voting ahead of the June 4 local elections, a young woman is seen being reluctant to cast her ballot early because she just had cosmetic surgery on her eyes to prepare for a beauty pageant. This didn’t go to well with the Korean Women’s Associated United (KWAU).

``Attending a beauty pageant is not an experience that is commonly shared by female voters; the cartoon had no reason to be based on a character like that. At a time when there are worrying level misogyny on the Internet, we fear that cartons like these will fuel the hate and disrespect for women by portraying them as clueless about civic responsibility,’’ the KWAU said in a statement.

``The cartoon portrays a man who is reluctant to cast his ballots because he has to go to work. On the other hand, the problem for the woman is that she got her eyes done. This is a cartoon based on a discriminatory idea on gender.’’

After the cartoon ignited a firestorm of opinion, the NEC pulled it down from the Internet. While the KWAU had demanded the voting commission to apologize, the NEC has yet to do so.