The concept of rape in South Korea

06/04/23

Writer: Mathilde Penda
Translator: Zoé Llacer

In the age of the “Me Too” movement, the 12th economic power in the world remains a deeply patriarchal society, hiding behind a modern and dynamic façade. In 2016, the murder of a 23-year-old young woman in Seoul by a man who claimed to “hate women” sparked a wave of outrage^[1]Darmanin, J., (2016), Le meutre d’une femme à Seoul emeut la Corée du Sud, Buzzfeed. https://www.buzzfeed.com/fr/julesdarmanin/le-meurtre-dune-femme-a-seoul-emeut-la-coree-du-sud. Since the election of the conservative president Yoon Seok-you, anti-feminist currents have re-emerged in South Korean society. Last January, the Minister of Gender and Family Affairs proposed a new law to revise the definition of rape. In the face of this rejection, how is sexual abuse dealt with in South Korea?

Sexual abuse in South Korea: a normalised violence

At the end of January, the South Korean Minister of Gender and Family announced his intention to revise the legal definition of rape to include non-consensual sexual relations. A few hours later, however, the Minister of Justice rejected this idea^[2]Bergsten S., (2023), South Korea Cancels Plans to Update Definition of Rape, Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/01/south-korea-cancels-plans-update-definition-rape. This decision comes although sexist violence is a widespread phenomenon in South Korea.

In 2019, the Korea Women’s Hotline, a Korean feminist association, estimated that a woman was killed every 1.8 days in South Korea and that 98% of homicide victims were women, one of the highest rates in the world^[3]Bergsten S., (2023), South Korea Cancels Plans to Update Definition of Rape, Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/01/south-korea-cancels-plans-update-definition-rape. Nearly 80% of respondents admitted to having used violence against a partner. The study, based on responses from 2,000 South Korean men, found that 1,593 of them, or 79.7%, had physically or psychologically abused a partner during a relationship^[4]Smith N., (27 August 2017). Almost 80% of South Korean men have abused girlfriend, study claims. The Telegraph. … Continue reading. However, convictions remain low because very few victims come forward. Shame, stigma or even a lack of justice lead victims not to report, or to do so only rarely^[5]Bergsten S., (2023), South Korea Cancels Plans to Update Definition of Rape, Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/01/south-korea-cancels-plans-update-definition-rape.

This lax attitude of the South Korean justice system towards perpetrators of sexual violence can be explained by the patriarchal system that is deeply rooted in South Korean society. Confucian values form the basis of contemporary Korean culture. Ji-Yeong Yun, a professor of sociology at South Korea’s Changown University, defines Confucianism as an oppressive system for women. For women, Confucianism means sacrifice and submission to family virtues, with a hierarchy between men and women present in every social institution. This is even though women are academically more educated than men. The idea of virginity is also deeply rooted in the collective mind, depriving women of their right to freely dispose of their bodies. Instead of promoting gender equality, Korean society encourages women to be soft, pretty and submissive. South Korean women are reduced to sexual objects or breeders to promote the family name. In other words, women’s value is tied to their bodies, which are submissive and exploitable by men^[6]Yun J. (2019). Féminisme en Corée, Esprit, 4, 23-24. https://doi.org/10.3917/espri.1904.0023. Patriarchal Confucian values remain deeply rooted in South Korean society, with an insistence on gender hierarchies and harmony.

The expression ‘Nam-Jon-Yeo-Bi’, which means ‘the man is higher than the woman'^[7]Godart S., (2018), Les droits des femmes en Corée du Sud: désir d’émancipation, poids des traditions, Observatoire Pharos. … Continue reading, demonstrates the presence of patriarchy in South Korean society. This misogyny goes hand in hand with the rise of anti-feminism. This movement reveals a conservative tendency among young South Korean men, which can lead to online bullying of feminist activists and violent clashes during protests. Feminism and the ideas associated with it are seen as too radical for some South Koreans. These anti-feminist tendencies are highlighted by numerous debates. During the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021, South Korean three-time archery champion An San was criticised for her haircut, which was deemed too short and thus associated with “feminism^[8]Trouillard, S. (31 July 2021). Tokyo 2021: An San, trois médailles d’or et des critiques sur sa coupe de cheveux. FranceTV. … Continue reading”.

These anti-feminist movements are part of the rape culture that exists in South Korean society. This culture can be explained by the Confucian context, which emphasises gender roles, where women are expected to be submissive and supportive, while men are expected to be active and strong, and are seen by many as more sexual than women. According to Yeong-Ae Yamashita, author and professor at Bunkyo University in Japan, Confucianism requires women to be sexually pure and their value depends solely on their sexual submission to men^[9]Seungjin Rhee, V. (16 May 2017). Rape culture in South Korea. Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2017/05/162_229470.html.

Reforms attempts by the Ministry of Gender and Family Affairs

The Ministry of Gender and Family was established in 2001 to address the pervasive gender inequalities in South Korean society. The ministry’s responsibilities include implementing national policies, preventing sexual violence and promoting women’s political participation. This ministry played a significant role in the abolition of the Hojuje family registration system, which was suppressed by the National Assembly of Korea on 2 March 2005. The Hojuje system is a family lineage system centered on the family head, called Hoju, who is predominantly male. This system required citizens to be registered under the name of the male head of the family, regardless of their marital status. Children are registered under the father’s system and custody cannot revert to the mother^[10]Yim, E., Galmiche, F., Kim, K-M., Thévenet, S. (2010). Les mobilisations d’expertes jurists dans la construction d’une cause féministe : l’abolition du Hojuje en Corée du Sud, Nouvelles … Continue reading. In the event of divorce, children are registered under the father’s system and custody cannot revert to the mother.

In addition, since 2020, the Ministry has implemented inter-agency cooperation for the protection of at-risk youth and victims of numerical sexual crimes, a phenomenon that is increasingly recurring in South Korean society. The “molka” phenomenon is a practice that consists of hiding cameras in women’s dressing rooms or public toilets to broadcast the images on the Internet . As part of the inter-agency cooperation initiative, the Ministry has also launched awareness campaigns to encourage victims to report sexual violence and seek help^[11]Ministry of Gender Equality & Family. http://www.mogef.go.kr/eng/pr/eng_pr_s101d.do?mid=eng001. Training has also been provided for social workers and health professionals to identify and report cases of sexual violence.

In 2021, the South Korean government announced a series of additional reforms to combat sexual violence, such as increasing the maximum penalties for perpetrators of sexual violence and introducing new protection mechanisms for victims^[12]Tomiche, J. (24 September 2021). La Corée du Sud durcit sa loi pour lutter contre les crimes sexuels sur Internet. Le Monde. … Continue reading.

With this new legislative project, which consisted of revising the legal definition of rape to include non-consensual sexual relations in Korean law, the Ministry of Gender and Family aimed to provide better care for women victims of sexual violence, an objective that is in line with previous reforms. The representative of the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP), Kweon Seong-Dong, stressed that this revision would only exacerbate gender conflicts in Korean society. However, successive presidents have threatened to abolish the ministry. The current president, Yook Seok-Seol, a conservative and anti-feminist, made it a promise during his election campaign. He accused the Ministry of Gender and Family of treating all men as ‘potential sexual criminals'^[13]Bernard, M.-V., (2022), Yoon Suk-yeol, le président antiféministe qui veut ramener la Corée du Sud dans la «norme conservatrice», Francetvinfo.fr. … Continue reading.

The notion of consent at the heart of the debate on the definition of rape

In 2021, a UN report underlined the need for governments to harmonise legislation with international norms and stressed that “the victim’s lack of consent should be at the core of any definition of rape^[14]United Nations, (2021), Harmonization of criminal laws needed to stop rape. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/06/harmonization-criminal-laws-needed-stop-rape-un-expert”. For Dubravka Simonic, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women: “UN Member States must address the widespread impunity of rapists and the lack of justice for victims and bring their criminal laws into line with international human rights, criminal and humanitarian law”^[15]United Nations, (2021), Harmonization of criminal laws needed to stop rape. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/06/harmonization-criminal-laws-needed-stop-rape-un-expert. Rape is recognised in international law as a human rights violation and a form of violence against women and girls that can be compared to torture, and Member States must implement legislation criminalising it and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted^[16]Bernard, M.-V., (2022), Yoon Suk-yeol, le président antiféministe qui veut ramener la Corée du Sud dans la «norme conservatrice», Francetvinfo.fr. … Continue reading.

Although the majority of UN member states criminalise and punish rape, they do so in ways that are not in line with human rights standards and international law. There are various reasons for these shortcomings: the definition of rape, the length of time a victim has to report a crime, the failure to criminalise marital rape, the lack of gender equality, etc. South Korea is trying to address these shortcomings, but the process is proving difficult.

According to Lee Eun-ei, a lawyer specialising in sexual violence, the absence of the concept of consent in the definition of rape in South Korean law is a major flaw in the legal system^[17]Bergsten S., (2023), South Korea Cancels Plans to Update Definition of Rape, Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/01/south-korea-cancels-plans-update-definition-rape. Article 297 of the South Korean Criminal Code defines rape as sexual intercourse with “force or intimidation”^[18]Seoul Law Group, (2022), Rap, Imitative Rape, and Quasi Rape Sex Crime Law in South Korea . https://seoullawgroup.com/rape-law-korea/ However, in many rape cases, the victim shows signs of non-consent, both verbally and physically, but the perpetrators escape conviction because there is no evidence of violence or intimidation.

In 2019 investigation by the Korean Rescue Centre against Sexual Violence, statistics showed that more than two-thirds of rape cases, victims are not directly exposed to violence or threats^[19]Bergsten S., (2023), South Korea Cancels Plans to Update Definition of Rape, Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/01/south-korea-cancels-plans-update-definition-rape. A study by South Korean jurists and lawyers found that the courts tend to interpret the law extremely restrictively, so that for rape to occur, it is not enough for there to be an act of violence or intimidation, but for the victim to be unable to resist^[20]OHCHR (2020), Questionnaire on the Criminalization and Prosecution of Rape in the Republic of Korea (ROK). … Continue reading. The courts also consider mitigating circumstances when imposing sentences, such as the fact that the perpetrator has no previous convictions or was mentally “weak” at the time of the crime^[21]Godart S., (2018), Les droits des femmes en Corée du Sud: désir d’émancipation, poids des traditions, Observatoire Pharos. … Continue reading.

Other shortcomings

When victims of sexual violence press charges against their perpetrators, they often describe poor or even traumatic experiences with the police. The Korean judicial system does not deal effectively with cases of sexual crimes.

In 2018, the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women expressed concern about the low rate of prosecution of perpetrators of sexual crimes and lenient prison sentences in South Korea, despite an increase in reported cases^[22]HRW, (2021), Corée du Sud: les délits sexuels en ligne détruisent la vie des femmes , https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2021/06/16/coree-du-sud-les-delits-sexuels-en-ligne-detruisent-la-vie-de-femmes. Over 63% of cases do not result in legal action. The legal process is often an additional ordeal for victims of sexual crimes^[23]Bernard, M.-V., (2022), Yoon Suk-yeol, le président antiféministe qui veut ramener la Corée du Sud dans la «norme conservatrice», Francetvinfo.fr. … Continue reading.

Victims often lament the absence of women in the legal process, as police officers discourage victims from filing complaints by refusing to accept them or accusing them of making false accusations without evidence. Former South Korean President Moon Jae-In pledged to increase the number of women in the police force to 15% during his term and to increase the punishment for perpetrators of sexual crimes^[24]Kim Y., « La réforme de la police en Corée du Sud : le chemin inachevé », In : Froment J.-C. (éd.), Droit et politique. La circulation internationale des modèles en question. FONTAINE, … Continue reading.

New police teams have been set up to improve the legal process for victims. Teams of eight police officers, with at least one woman in each team. However, the number of female police officers in South Korea is so low that it is difficult to set up these new teams^[25]HRW, (2021), My life is not your Porn. https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/06/16/my-life-not-your-porn/digital-sex-crimes-south-korea#_ftn203. The reform aimed to increase the number of female police officers to 15% of the 130,000 men in 2022, compared to 13.4% in December 2020^[26]Cha, S. (3 November 2021). Stabbing sparks debate in S. Korea over passive policing and female officers . Reuters. … Continue reading.

Human Rights Watch collected the testimonies of female police officers during an investigation in 2022, who confessed to feeling “isolated, alone and ignored for the raises”^[27]HRW, (2021), South Korea Report. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/south-korea in a mostly male-dominated field. During demonstrations in 2018, during the MeToo movement, women chanted: “We want more women in the police”^[28]HRW, (2021), My life is not your Porn. https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/06/16/my-life-not-your-porn/digital-sex-crimes-south-korea#_ftn203.

Another problem faced by victims is the slowness of the legal process. According to Goh Yi Gyeong, a lawyer and activist, court cases can take more than a year^[29]HRW, (2021), Corée du Sud: les délits sexuels en ligne détruisent la vie des femmes, https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2021/06/16/coree-du-sud-les-delits-sexuels-en-ligne-detruisent-la-vie-de-femmes. She is particularly critical of cases of sexual violence, which do not allow survivors to move on while the case is pending.

A rise in anti-feminism since the current president came to power

Following the Ministry of Justice’s decision, protests and petitions have been launched by a section of the population in South Korea. This comes after the period of the ‘Me Too’ movement in 2018, but there are deep divisions in Korean society.

Since the election of President Yoon Suk Yeol, anti-feminist movements have been on the rise in South Korea. During his presidential campaign, the current president made a name for himself with anti-feminist and anti-LGBT statements and opposed the creation of an anti-discrimination law^[30]Delhaye C., (2022), “ La volonté de la suppression du Ministère de l’égalité des genres par le président Yoon Suk Yeol : reflet d’une société coréenne en proie à un anti-féminisme … Continue reading. He claims that there is no structural discrimination against women, adding that it is “just an old saying that women are treated unequally and men are treated better in South Korea”^[31]HRW, (2021), Corée du Sud: les délits sexuels en ligne détruisent la vie des femmes, https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2021/06/16/coree-du-sud-les-delits-sexuels-en-ligne-detruisent-la-vie-de-femmes.

Today, women who consider themselves “feminists” in South Korea are victims of online harassment and ridicule. A growing number of anti-feminist groups are railing against feminists they consider too “radical” or “misandrist”. Bae In-Kiy, the spokesperson for the anti-feminist group “Solidarité masculine”, often makes anti-feminist comments on her YouTube channel, which has thousands of followers^[32]Fondation Jean Jaurès (2023), Le féminisme à l’épreuve du Masculinisme en Corée du Sud. https://www.jean-jaures.org/publication/le-feminisme-a-lepreuve-du-masculinisme-en-coree-du-sud/. These groups are active on social networks and regularly launch anti-feminist campaigns, allowing them to gain influence in the political arena.

During the last presidential campaign, Yoon Seok-youl tried to appeal to these voters to get elected^[33]Kim Y., « La réforme de la police en Corée du Sud : le chemin inachevé », In : Froment J.-C. (éd.), Droit et politique. La circulation internationale des modèles en question. FONTAINE, … Continue reading. This strategy proved successful, as the majority of Korean men under 30 voted for him in the last presidential election in March. However, Yoon Suk-yeol won the presidential election by less than one point. It was the closest election in South Korean history^[34]Gunia, A. (10 March 2022), How South Korea’s Yoon suk-yeol capitalized anti-feminist backlash to win the presidency. Time. https://time.com/6156537/south-korea-president-yoon-suk-yeol-sexism/.

A society more divided than ever

Despite its dazzling development, South Korean society remains very conservative on equality issues. With the Ministry of Justice’s rejection of a revised definition of rape, victims of sexual violence face an unfair and highly unequal system.

What’s more, the president’s threats to abolish the Ministry of Gender and Family Affairs have led to a rise in anti-feminist movements, which were seduced by the president’s sexist comments during the presidential campaign.

Finally, with anti-feminist movements on the rise, South Korean society is becoming increasingly divided.