CHAPTER 26

• Jurisdiction: United States

CHAPTER 26

"Uncomfortable Courage (??? ??)": Trials and Triumphs of South Korea's #MeToo Movement

Yukyong Choe¹ and Jenny Jian Jang²

Introduction

South Korea's rising feminism and organizing against sexual harassment and violence were nurtured and inspired by a number of events, different but familiar to those that had fostered the Harvey Weinstein scandal an ocean away. The Korean movement began, first because of highly publicized acts of violence against women in 2016,³ and then through collective participation in large scale "candlelight rallies" in 2016 and 2017, where women demanded the impeachment and ouster of Korea's President, Park Geun-hye. These protests allowed women to express themselves and to understand the power of their collective voices to change the status quo. And, when Korea experienced its most publicized "#MeToo" case in 2018, the accuser was a highly respected Korean prosecutor. Korean society was shocked, recognizing that if this powerful woman was harassed and unable to speak out about her abuse, this could happen to anyone.

With women's issues at the forefront of public discourse, Korean women have become emboldened in their response to sexual harassment and violence. Now, more than ever, through social media and broadcast news platforms, women have developed a collective, feminist consciousness. Yet still, Korean law regulating sexual misconduct has stymied the success of this movement. While the Korean legislature has attempted to address the problems by amending Korean law, these reforms have had mixed success. As a result, the social movement in Korea against sexual harassment and violence remains an uphill battle.

The Origins of the Korean #MeToo Movement

On May 17, 2016, a young woman using a public restroom in Gangnam, an upscale Seoul neighborhood, was stabbed to death by a male suspect who admitted to police after his arrest that he had chosen a woman as his victim because he had felt "ignored and belittled" by women his whole life. The glass subway entrance closest to the murder was soon covered with notes from women expressing solidarity with the victim and numerous rallies were held protesting violence against women.⁴ "Through the summer and fall of 2016, a consciousness born of outrage spread among South Korean women and girls, dovetailing with the mass Candlelight Movement that would bring down President Park Geun-hye."⁵

Starting in October 2016, women joined men, in months of well-organized, peaceful candlelight rallies calling for the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. In May 2017, the Korean Constitutional Court finally impeached the president on corruption charges. This political triumph from large scale mobilization of Korea's citizens to promote civil democracy emboldened and inspired the Korean feminism movement.

Also in October 2016, Tak Soo-jung, an employee at a publishing house, publicly accused her former poetry teacher of sexual abuse and encouraged other women to speak out on social media. Women's basic demands—for physical safety, equal opportunity, and freedom from oppressive standards of femininity—were shared and discussed widely.⁶

These events: outrage over women's murders, social media sharing of sexual harassment, and successful protests against political corruption, catalyzed the #MeToo movement in Korea and fundamentally changed the conversation of sexual harassment and violence—now an extremely visible topic in national media.

In January 2018, prosecutor Seo Ji-Hyun accused her superior Ahn TaeGeun of groping her during a funeral for a colleague's father in 2010. When Seo immediately reported the abuse to senior prosecutors, the Ministry of Justice failed to take action against her perpetrator and instead punished her with career setbacks. Ahn denied the allegations of sexual assault and any role in pulling strings to demote Seo.

Unlike in years past, however, the public support of Seo's account was overwhelming. On January 29, 2018, Seo spoke out in a live interview aired by JTBC, a prominent broadcast news network. On national television, she revealed the sinister underbelly of the Ministry and how power asymmetries rooted in patriarchy perpetuated a harmful workplace culture. She explained that even for a decorated and esteemed prosecutor like herself, mustering the courage to expose her perpetrator took nearly eight years. She feared retaliation and grew cynical of the ministry's inaction. Magnified media coverage bolstered the public backlash against the perpetrator. Following Seo's interview, JTBC produced hundreds of reports and broadcast segments that further investigated the incident—placing great pressure on Ahn and the Ministry. Seo's powerful account inspired the nation at large to denounce Ahn and demand his resignation. Seo's public announcement is largely considered the spark that set flame to the #MeToo movement in Korea.

In February 2018, Choi Young-Mi published a poem titled "Monster," in the Hwanghae Review literary journal, and it went viral. "Virtually every Korean news outlet described the poem as an accusation of molestation, coerced sex, and harassment ("He touches every young girl he sees") against the poet Ko Un, now eighty-five and long considered Korea's best hope for a Nobel Prize in Literature."⁷ Ko Un filed a defamation suit against Choi Young-Mi, claiming nearly $1 million in damages caused by the poem's publication and Choi's subsequent media appearances.

The momentum of the Korean #MeToo movement reached its peak in March 2018. JTBC broke a story that exposed presidential hopeful Ahn Hee-Jung as a sexual predator. Kim Ji-Eun, Ahn's secretary, recounted multiple accounts of rape by her employer—four times from June 2017 to February 2018.⁸ At the time, Ahn served as District Governor in Chung-nam and was the Korean Democratic Party's frontrunning presidential candidate. Kim explained that as his direct employee, she felt she was not in a position to deny or stop his abuse. Not only was Ahn her employer, he was the face of the majority party. Ahn had political clout he could use to...