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| Members of women's advocacy groups hold a press conference in Jung District, Seoul, Friday. The slogan in Korean on the orange signs reads, "Stop politics of hatred, Go politics of gender equality." Yonhap |
By Lee Hae-rin
Women's rights activists called on President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to withdraw his campaign pledge to close down the Ministry of Gender, Equality, and Family. Yoon has proposed shutting down the ministry by claiming it devotes itself too much to women's rights.
A coalition of 27 women's advocacy groups held a press conference in Jung District, Seoul, Friday criticizing Yoon and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) of inciting hatred and exacerbating the gender divide during the presidential race.
"President-elect Yoon is given a responsibility to recognize Korea's structural gender discrimination and actively seek ways to solve the issue," the coalition said in a statement, condemning his campaign promise to increase punishment on false accusations of sexual assault and shut down the gender ministry.
The women's rights groups said such pledges resulted from Yoon's lack of understanding of structural gender discrimination and could end up justifying and intensifying discrimination and violence against women and minorities.
"The gender ministry should reinforce its functions and every government branch should install a gender equality division of its own," the coalition said, highlighting the new government's responsibility to come up with a fundamental solution to gender discrimination.
Meanwhile, Yoon reconfirmed his intent to keep the campaign promise, Sunday, as he said the ministry "has fulfilled its historical calling."
During a press conference at the PPP headquarters in Yeouido, Sunday, Yoon said, "In the past, sexual discrimination was very serious in our society, which is why the Kim Dae-jung administration created it (the gender ministry) for many reasons. From now, we should instead focus on dealing more firmly with individual cases of inequality and crime," Yoon said.
The ministry was formed in 2001.
On the future of the ministry, Yoon said, "We should plan a more effective government branch to deal with injustice, human rights violations, and protection of people's rights more effectively."
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