Candidates collide over gender issues

By Jun Ji-hye

Kim Jeong-suk

Conservatives and liberals clashed Monday over the impact that presidential hopeful Park Geun-hye would have on gender issues should she become the nation’s first female president.

Park, the ruling Saenuri Party candidate, says her election would help balance the country’s male-dominated politics. Critics from the camp of liberal rival Moon Jae-in however, have questioned Park’s ability to forge tangible change for women.

The latest debate flared following remarks made by Moons’ wife Kim Jeong-suk in a newspaper interview.

“A female president is not an important issue in itself. What is more important is whether or not you are able to reflect a pro-woman stance in politics. We need a president who has a better understanding of women’s strengths and gender equality.”

While Kim said she respects Park for achieving such a high status as a woman, she expressed skepticism over her credentials as an advocate for women.

Saying the “softness” of women should to be reflected in politics, Kim blasted Park for having a “cold and confrontational mind.”

The Saenuri Party quickly shot back.

“We cannot believe that a person who wants to be the first lady made such comments,” it said in a statement.

The party compared Kim’s remarks to controversial comments made last week by Hwang Sang-min, a political commentator who said that Park was not a “true woman.”

“Park is a woman only in terms of genitals,” the Yonsei University professor said. “She cannot be categorized as a true woman as she has neither married nor given birth to children.”

The conservative party said Park had been working to eradicate the prevalent “patriarchal family system” here.

“It is Kim that has a cold and confrontational mind like her husband as she is downplaying Park only because she supports the opposing party,” it said.

Moon met Kim in the 1970s when they were students at Kyunghee University and they married in 1981.