|
|
 |
|
|
|
[13th Anniversary Special Report] Let's Laugh in an Equal World
- The Women's News, the first-ever newspaper owned by women stockholders
|
The Women's News - founded in 1988 by women who created and owned the stocks to an alternative press for women, the disabled and socially weak - turned 13 years old this year.
The Women's News is regarded as having widened the horizons for feminist journalism in Korea by discovering and putting on the social agenda women's issues that other newspapers used to deal with in the gossip column or ignore altogether.
 Photo-journalist Park Young Sook remembers the emotional moment when the first edition of The Women's News came off the press on 2 December 1988. Recalls Park, "We were bursting with emotion at having created a medium to voice our opinions and jumping with joy at having put our philosophy into action." Park recollects "heated debates with chief editor Go Jeong Hee over every new edition." She adds that "the very existence of The Women's News speaks of the progress of the women's movement."
'Korea's Economic Reality and Women's Issues,' 'Male-Dominated World of Politics' and 'Culture of Chauvinism' were some of the heavy issues that The Women's News dealt with in great depth from its founding edition. The newspaper soon became a feminist textbook for women students, workers and intellectuals, and the basis of women's search for solutions to social problems.
Furthermore, The Women's News was an experimental combination of feminism and journalism, training women - for far too long conditioned by masculine dialogue and viewpoints - to speak, write and see things from women's point of view.
Representative of Seoul Media Park Hye Sook worked as a reporter with The Women's News for 6 years from 1988. Says Park, "The shining achievement of The Women's News is that it went beyond just reporting on an issue to getting women's groups to launch reform movements."
Park goes on to add, "The Women's News was a 'school' that taught women to form their own words and voice them, to see the world through their own eyes. Those who graduated from this 'school' are continuously pushing this male-oriented society towards changes and improvements today."
The Women's News also launched various activities to establish gender equality in society, such as initiating the Egalitarian Couple Award and comparing women policies of presidential candidates.
Despite such achievements, The Women's News failed to gain the influential status of other feminist media establishments overseas. Professor Kim Seon Nam (Mass Communications, Wongwang University) explains that "overseas feminist media such as Emma was successful thanks to an independent public and mature society." Kim points out that "making The Women's News a substantial media for women is a task that the women's movement should take up together."
reported by Choi Lee Boo-ja, bjchoi@womennews.co.kr
|
|
|
"The most fruitful outcome of this symposium was our visit to Miari district. We were able to compare the situation of prostitution in Korea and Hong Kong."
This was how participants from Hong Kong organizations dealing with prostitution issues looked back on the International Symposium aimed at establishing an international alliance against prostitution and human trafficking in the Asian region.
An ex-prostitute participant commented that "the Korean women looked very uncomfortable sitting dolled up in show windows," and showed surprise at how closed-up the red-light districts were.
An activist helping prostitutes in the Philippines said that "women involved in prostitution seriously jeopardize their own health." To help these women, "male volunteers are sent in to become friendly with the brothel owner or master, after which it becomes easier for counsellors to approach the women."
However, a Korean participant and ex-prostitute commented that such a method "just would not work here (in Korea)." According to her, "each prostitute is controlled by a gigolo, making it impossible for men, much less women, to approach her for anything besides sex."
"In Hong Kong, where prostitution is not illegal, prostitutes face extreme contempt and violence," said a Hong Kong participant. "There are many cases of gangsters extorting money from prostitutes, but what is more serious is that policemen act suspicious and refuse to help them."
In response, Korean participants said that "Korean gangsters do not just extort money from prostitutes but run the brothels and guard, imprison and prostitute women," thus exposing the reality in Korean society, where the connection between gangsters and prostitution is particularly tenacious.
"The biggest reason prostitutes cannot escape is because they know that the police gang up with the brothel owners and would be the first to catch them."
For the international organizations dedicated to countering prostitution and human trafficking, the third hearing of the "lawsuit against the state for compensation regarding the Gunsan red-light district fire" came as a huge shock.
"A prostitute in Gunsan testified that she had to offer her body as a bribe to the police chief."
Kim Hyunsun, representative of Saewoomtuh, a shelter for victims of prostitution, attended the hearing and revealed what she had heard, exposing to shocked foreign activists the dark connection between the police and whoremasters in Korea.
¢¸ Demonstration at Myongdong Cathedral on October 11 staged by the participants of the International Symposium to Counter Prostitution and Human Trafficking. Demonstrators called for the enactment of special laws to prevent prostitution. <Photograph by Min Won-ki>
Policemen and gigolos treating one another like brothers, brothel owners keeping records of bribes regularly delivered to the police, and police chiefs being bribed with sex... "Then who protects the human rights of the prostitutes?" The symposium participants pointed out that women should use international networks to make the Korean government comply with the conventions of the UN and other human rights organizations.
"We were able to see the many facets of Korean society. But we felt that the Special Act on the Prevention of Prostitution being initiated by the Korean government does not help women." A participant working with a Japanese organization to prevent the prostitution of female migrant workers said that "prostitutes should not be regarded as criminals," and that "forcing them into institutions is a human rights violation." The revision of the Anti-Prostitution Act proposed by Korea Women's Development Institute basically applies the principle of 'punishing both parties' and recommends that prostitutes be institutionalized.
Saewoomtuh, which hosted the International Symposium, declared that "considering the reality of prostitution in Korea, we cannot distinguish between voluntary and involuntary prostitution." The organization stressed the need to change the attitude of regarding all prostitutes as criminals. It also opposed the age limit for protection set by the government, saying, "Women who were sexually exploited in their teens become prostitutes as adults. The government is saying the sexuality of a 19-year-old should be protected whereas a 20-year-old can be left to fend for herself."
Officials from the Ministry of Gender Equality, which is working on the revision of the Act, said that they would "consider deleting the clause forcing women to be institutionalized."
Participants of the Symposium issued a statement on October 11, demanding ¡âthorough investigation of the fire at Gunsan red-light district and punishment of those responsible ¡âshelters to protect prostitutes' human rights and actual measures to help them find alternative jobs ¡âspecial support system to protect the human rights of migrant workers fallen victim to prostitution and human trafficking ¡âgovernment compliance with the International Convention on Prostitution and Human Trafficking ¡âmandatory education programs for civil servants and those who buy sex.
reported by Cho Lee Yeu-wool cognate@womennews.co.kr
|
|
|
How do youths in Korea feel about the world situation since the terrorist attacks on September 11? The Women's News met up with 18-year-old Kang Jinkyung (JK), Baek Sumin (SM), Lee Sukyung (SK) and Kang Jinyoung (JY) from Daeil Foreign Language High School to hear their thoughts on America's war of retribution.
JY: We talked a great deal while watching the news of the attacks. Many of us were saying that the US was getting what it deserved.
SK: Not everyone thought like that.
SM: There were even rumors that the US had staged the whole thing. People were talking about the prophecies of Nostradamus...
JK: I was relieved that North Korea was not on the list of suspected terrorist countries.
SK: Quite a few of us were unhappy about having to observe a moment of silence after the terror attacks.
JK: They didn't do that when the Sampoong Department store or Sungsu Bridge collapsed, so why should the entire nation bow our heads in silence because some buildings collapsed in the US?
SM: The US says it is striking back because of its citizens who were victimized by the attacks, but it's obvious that a war will victimize even more civilians. A war cannot be justified. This must be a calculated political move.
JK: Wouldn't a war make the sacrifice of the Americans meaningless?
SM: Americans seem to believe that their country is a superpower. Their patriotism is scary. CNN keeps showing scenes of the World Trade Center collapsing, heating up the people's emotions. They are manipulating global public consensus.
JY: Yeah. We can see only what they want to show us.
JK: We've seen wars only through movies and novels. We don't have first-hand experience, so a war seems like something far away. But reports of biochemical weapons and anthrax infections has brought the war much closer to reality. I heard that North Korea has a lot of biochemical weapons. It's scary...
SM: Here they are inciting terrorism while saying that they are going to eradicate it. It was the same in Kosovo. The US is acting like the world police and yet it gets into dirty fights.
JK: What'll happen to Korea? Supporting the US would be an economic burden.
JY: We have no choice. We don't know what losses we'll face if we fall out of the US's favor. Because of our relationship with North Korea and Japan, Korea could very well come under fire.
SM: Japan does not have the right to dispatch military detachments because of its war crimes, and yet it is exploiting this chance to revise its laws so that it can send its self-defence forces overseas.
JK: The situation now may cement Korea's subordinate status as a vessel state of the US. The Japanese threat is quite a problem too.
SM: The government will have to think first of the people's safety, and then probably it will want to get into the US's good books since that is economically and politically advantageous.
JY: What if we came under terrorist attacks? Cooperating with the US may be dangerous.
JK: What's more, our relationship with North Korea is going down the drain again.
SM: Our generation is skeptical about the future of this country.
JK: Korean citizens have a problem. Why do we have to forsake our pride and do everything we're told?
SK: I want to work for the UN. It's an organization that regards the world as one community and searches for a common direction, right? Since Korea is not strong enough, I think working at the UN can contribute to world peace. I hope Korea breaks away from the US's influence.
SM: What about the Arabs? We see media reports of the religious disputes and the incidents in Palestine, but it is so far away. I don't think any of us show enough concern. It's only now that people are interested in who Bin Laden is. There's even a website for his fans. He's like a celebrity now.
JK: They're showing lots of TV programs on Arab countries these days. They're saying that it is a terrible place for women and children.
SM: I am a member of the Korean chapter of Amnesty International, and I read in the bulletin that in Arab countries, they stone women for committing adultery. It's just corporal punishment for the men. If women expose their faces in public, they get whipped. The Koran is kept to the letter in these days and times. Can you believe it?
 ¢º (from left) Kang Jinkyung, Lee Sukyung, Kang Jinyoung, Baek Sumin of Daeil Foreign Language High School talk about world affairs and America's war of retribution. <photograph by Min
Won-ki>
JY: I heard of the honor killings. Even if a man kills his own female family member, he is sentenced to only about 6 months in jail.
JK: A brother killed his younger sister for getting raped.
SM: I get confused when it comes to oppression of women in Islam countries. One Arab lady said that the aba covering her entire body is not a form of oppression but just their way of life.
JK: Well, you've seen girls who say that all will be well if they meet and marry Mr. Right. Even our teachers say that. We are brought up to think that what we have to put up with is just the facts of life.
JY: There must be movements within Arab countries trying to free women from oppression. I heard a feminist say that it would be a long fight. But the US is saying that the war will benefit these women. That's ridiculous.
JK: Benefit the refugees and women? So they think they're heroes. War strengthens the strong and weakens the weak. It cannot be justified.
JY: Many anti-war demonstrations are taking place all over the world. I heard we had a street demonstration here in Korea.
SM: How much effect would that have? Amnesty International is collecting signatures through small groups, but people just put their signatures down and then forget about it. I wonder how much of our words get across.
SK: I think our generation is not concerned or interested enough. They just want to have fun and avoid thinking about serious issues. My younger brother lives in a world of his own. All he does is play computer games, read fantasy novels and talk about celebrities. He doesn't seem to have any real values.
SM: My brother said that the US aircraft carriers were cool and that he wants to get on one. There's a computer game called 'Delta Force' about the US commandos, and he's addicted to it.
JK: It's an important time right now. I think that 'interest' is important when it comes to war and human rights issues.
JY: War destroys everything we value. That is why war is scary. I think 'ignorance' contributes to crime. Prejudices and stereotyping all comes from accepting whatever you're told. I think proper knowledge is important.
SM: I know that the government's policies are wrong and that there is a problem with US foreign policies, but I'm not sure there is anything we can do to change society. But if the majority recognizes that there is something wrong and have the will to change things, I guess we could make a difference.
condensed by Cho Lee Yeu-wool cognate@womennews.co.kr
|
|
|
Articles condensed by
Lee- In-hwa, translated by Cho Eung-joo.
Copyright (c) The women's news All Rights reserved.
http://www.womennews.co.kr
|
|
|
