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An outspoken professor caused a stir Friday with insulting remarks over the gender of Rep. Park Geun-hye, presidential candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party.
In a radio program, Whang Sang-min, a professor of the psychology department of Yonsei University in Seoul, insisted that Park doesn't deserve to be called an advocate of women's rights because she has not played any role in improving them.
"But she is technically a woman, though, because she has a genetic female organ," the professor said.
"In Korea, women train to be mature and feminine when they get married, have babies and raise them. But this is not the case for Park as she is not married and has no children."
He said he didn't understand why Park, who is not particularly womanly, suddenly decided to play the gender card ahead of the presidential election.
Park has yet to react to the seemingly undeserved criticism.
Whang's controversial remarks have caused a stir online. Internet users slammed the professor for his comments. Several people tweeted that Hwang's remarks made no sense.
Blogger ktrue 536 said the Yonsei University professor insulted single women. Another, jhk080, called Whang "a pumpkin head" who doesn't deserve the title of university professor.
The remarks came days after the ruling Saenuri Party has launched a campaign for female leadership.
In a press release Friday, the Park camp touted the nation's selection of a woman president.
"Males have dominated Korean politics. This is partly responsible for prevalent corruption, bribery scandals, infighting and a lack of transparency in the political circle," it said.
"Politics have come to lose public trust as a result. The only way to regain public trust is to select a woman as president. Males tend to be result-driven and care little if the process was fair. Females are different. They do care if there have been flaws in the process."
The Park camp is pushing the candidate's gender as a strength after Kim Sung-joo, president and CEO of the luxury bag maker MCM, recommended Park make the most of her gender to beat her male rivals.
The main opposition Democratic United Party attacked the Saenuri Party for the campaign tactic, saying Park has not represented the best interests of women and therefore doesn't deserve to lead such a campaign.
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