gender equality
Feminism Reboot: "We Are Alive, Right Here"
This is Korea Exposé’s first short documentary, created by video director Youjin Do and published on the eve of the two-year-anniversary of the Gangnam murder on May 17, 2016. Two years ago in South Korea, a woman was murdered in Gangnam. It was a senseless death that
Moon Jae-in's Road to Gender Equal Cabinet
With his good-looking entourage (especially one of his campaign bodyguards), newly-elected president Moon Jae-in has excited many in South Korea and beyond. Now, he is enthralling the electorate with his choice of ministerial nominees – this time, not for their appearances but because they are women in positions previously dominated
Meet S Korea's "Feminist" Grandpas
Handmaids are a rare breed in the Republic of Gilead, where most women are barren. The purpose of their existence is to reproduce. If these few fertile women shirk their duty to breed, they face immediate execution or, worse, are banished to “The Colonies” to die slowly of radiation poisoning.
"A Day Without Women" on the Streets of South Korea
Today was International Women’s Day, and South Korean women took this celebration to another level. Korean Women Workers Association (KWWA) held a “Day Without Women” march in downtown Seoul and other cities nationwide, calling out for women to fight against the gender wage gap.
The Enemy Is Within Our Ranks
Two narratives generally dominate the portrayal of South Korea’s most important holidays, Chuseok (the Autumn Harvest) and Seollal (the Lunar New Year), which was just last week. There’s the happy narrative: Extended families get together to celebrate over traditional home-cooked Korean dishes; smiling celebrities in hanbok promote the
Weekly Brief: Sept. 19th - Sept. 25th
RIP, Baek Nam-gi Baek Nam-gi, the farmer knocked over by a police water cannon, has succumbed to his injuries (a skull fracture and brain hemorrhage) and passed away yesterday after being in a coma for the last 10 months. He was 69. As of press time there is a sit-up
Weekly Brief: Sept.12th - Sept. 18th
Shockwaves felt around the country In the aftermath of a 5.1 earthquake and a 5.8 aftershock that hit the south-eastern part of the country on Monday, politicians of all stripes criticized the government’s slow response and the limitations of the current alert system (which notifies citizens via
In Defense of Feminism
A voice actress puts on a T-shirt that reads “Girls do not need a prince” and tweets the photo. That seemingly innocuous phrase prompts widespread accusations that she is a man-hater. Angry men bombards Nexon, a game company for which she did work, with complaints. The company terminates
Megalia: South Korean Feminism Marshals the Power of the Internet
Founded on August 6th, 2015, independent website Megalian.com embodies a new type of feminism – one that uses the country’s world-class information and communications technology infrastructure to promote gender equality and to humorously bash misogyny on the South Korean web. The name, currently filed for trademark registration&
Men Who Yearn to Be Erect, and the Women Who Bear Them
He leans in and caresses her face. He plants his lips on hers. She opens her eyes wide, looking utterly surprised. Then she gives in, chastely closing her eyes as she keeps herself perfectly still. When I get around to watching a South Korean drama, this is more or less
Gender Equality in South Korea: A Long Way to Go
In 2004 a police officer in Miryang told several middle school girls who were repeatedly raped over the course of a year by forty-one high school boys that they, the victims, were “embarrassing his hometown”. Eight years later, in 2012, it was revealed that the girlfriend of one of