Student Corner #MeToo breaks silence in South Korea
Eju Ro
By Eju Ro
In the past few months, the #MeToo movement has made its way into South Korea. From the Korean stage and movie sets to the Blue House, new gruesome exposes of a few of the nation's “favorite” male figures have been inundating the media every day.
But the hashtag is more than simply a hashtag; it is a manifestation of a social revolution of sorts, one orchestrated by the long-silenced victims of sexual violence, and we need to recognize it as such. Particularly in South Korea, a traditionally conservative nation, the movement is a revolution.
The prevalence of sexual violence in Korea, along with the hush-hush culture regarding victims and the sweeping-under-the-rug of the issue as a whole, makes the movement one of great significance.
According to
from the Korea Institute of Criminology, of 2,000 Korean men surveyed, 79.7 percent admitted to abusing their girlfriends while dating. Of that 79.7 percent, 37.9 percent admitted to sexual harassment as well.
Even more shocking is the discrepancy between the rates of reported rape and the rate of convicted offenders. According to the Supreme Prosecutors'
, 22,034 instances of rape were reported in 2011, but 18,880 offenders were convicted. And even so, only 12 percent of those who were convicted were punished with jail time, even though under Korean law, rape can be punished with lifetime imprisonment.
The fact that only 12% of 18,880 offenders are given the adequate punishment reflects the lack of law enforcement. The statistics are in stark contrast to those of other countries such as the UK, in which according to the
, the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics, one in 38 major sex crimes leads to conviction of the perpetrator.
But more importantly, #MeToo does more than just shed light on crime rates; it destigmatizes the discussion of them. And this time, it's not just the victims involved; it's everyone.
is interest among ordinary women and men,” Cho Hae-lim, a spokeswoman of the Korean Institute of Gender Equality Promotion and Education, said. “There has been growing confidence that if we solidify, if we get together, we can make society better.”
South Korean culture has traditionally made it difficult for victims of sexual violence to speak out about their experiences. Offenders are not always punished for their crimes, and victims are often not taken seriously if they do muster the courage to speak.
This trend of silencing victims allowed sexual violence to spread like a disease in a crowded room; offenders knew that they would not be punished since they held higher social status than the weak women they were assaulting.
Rape cannot be eliminated overnight, but more perpetrators could be rightfully convicted if the government were to be stricter in terms of punishment; when there is a victim speaking out, along with clear evidence of rape, there should be no reason for 88 percent of convicted rapists to roam the streets freely without any jail time. Another solution could be for better education among the younger generations about sexual consent and gender relations, as one clear factor that accounts for such high rates of rape and the inability for victims to report or fight back is the way society reinforces the concept of the superiority of men.
The #MeToo movement, at least for now, is turning the tide. Numerous male figures, such as governor and presidential candidate Ahn Hee-Jung and actor Oh Dal-su, have been publicly under fire after being exposed by women they had raped.
s of change are blowing stronger as victims of sexual violence and supporters are empathizing and banding together,” Gender Equality Minister Chung Hyun-back said, explaining the effects of the #MeToo movement on Korean society.
But the revolution should not end with the movement; the next step is action. #MeToo calls for Korea to hire more female judges. It calls for Korean men to be educated about sexual equality. It calls for stricter enforcement of sexual assault laws and punishment. It calls for an end to victim-shaming and victim-silencing, and a beginning to opening our ears toward victims' stories.
For the first time in history, the ticking time bomb has exploded. There can no longer be a delay on the issue of sexual violence against women in South Korea. The #MeToo movement is a historic revolution against tradition in Korea, one that will be remembered as the turning point from a victim-shaming nation to a victim-supporting one.