Internet powerhouse Korea has once again shown just how great netizen power can be.
Korean netizens, who voluntarily created Red Devils, the Korean World Cup team supporters, has recreated that legendary youthful culture through their demand for the revision of the Korea-US Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). And this culture has spontaneously sparked back to life in Gwanghwamun, the heart of Seoul that witnessed the lusty shouts of the red devils six months ago during the World Cup games.

A candlelight march that began with a netizen's proposal to "burn Gwanghwamun with candles" on November 30 has attracted thousands of citizens, who gathered in Gwanghwamun holding family's, lover's and friend's hands and armed with candles. They gathered not at the request of a specific organization but voluntarily, planning candlelight marches in every major city through the Internet and expanding the solidarity offline.

The marchers' demands are the same everywhere - the invalidation of the marshal court's not guilty verdict regarding the servicemen involved in the death of the two schoolgirls, a direct apology from US President George Bush, and the revision of the unequal SOFA.

In 1995, three American soldiers sexually violated an elementary schoolgirl in Okinawa, leading to a direct apology from then American president Bill Clinton. In contrast, president Bush only offered an indirect apology through the US Embassy in Korea regarding the death of the two schoolgirls in Korea. This fact alone has sparked the anger of Korean netizens, who believe that national pride is on the line. Their fury has turned into a tidal wave that shows no signs of calming down.

The flame that the netizens have lighted is slowly moving from strength to strength. On December 4, the Korean president finally instructed relevant authorities to see to the improvement of SOFA, and even the US seemed shaken. However, the government has proposed maintaining the original framework of the SOFA while improving its operation, concentrating on strengthening Korea's initial investigation rights. It has been pointed out that such measures fall far short of pacifying the angry Korean public.

In fact, rallies calling for the revision of SOFA continue to spread throughout the nation in a variety of forms. On December 5, several civic and religious groups held rallies one after another near the US Embassy.

The Korea-US relations, which have been controlled by a handful of diplomatic and security officials of the two countries for the past half-century, is definitely on a path towards change, thanks to the ever-exploding volcano of public opinion demanding equal Korea-US relations.

◀ Chung Hyun-Baek / Co-representative of Korea Women's Association United, professor of History, SungKyunKwan University

With the presidential election just two weeks away, the incident of the two schoolgirls who were hit and killed by an armored vehicle of the US Army during the World Cup has become the 'hot topic' of the presidential campaign.

The Korean public's outrage at US's obnoxious attitude has hit an all-time high, leading to the demand for the revision of SOFA, but the Korean government's response stopped at a 'ministerial meeting regarding the recent public sentiments towards the US' chaired by Prime Minister Kim Seok Soo on December 4, where the authorities agreed to consult with the US regarding improvement of the operation of the SOFA. The government has made clear that it has no intentions to actually revise any of the articles of the SOFA. However, the government's response will not douse the Korean public's anger or its fervent demand for the revision of SOFA.

The SOFA between Korea and the US was signed in 1967, a decade later than NATO or Japan. The SOFA was revised twice since then, in 1991 and late 2000. The most important part of SOFA is jurisdiction over criminal court cases. Through the revision in 2000, the point of handover of American servicemen suspected of crimes was moved to an earlier stage, from 'after the court decision' to 'at the time of indictment.' At a glance, this looks like significant progress. However, the appendix to the SOFA stipulates that this earlier handover only applies to serious crimes such as drunken driving, hit-and-run accidents and violence resulting in near death, meaning that in reality, the hand over of the suspect still basically takes place after the court decision. This fact alone clearly shows that the SOFA signed with Korea is more backward than the ones signed with NATO or Japan.

Another problem that arises in the court proceedings is that even when an American serviceman does face trial in a Korean court, the evidence gathered cannot be used in court unless a US government representative (other than the defense attorney) is present.
Such regulations governing criminal procedures do not exist in the US, Japan or Germany. That such regulations exist in the Korea-US SOFA is a reflection of the mistrust that Americans harbor against Korean criminal procedures, and is a good example of the backwardness of the legal framework of the SOFA.

There are numerous cases of American soldiers fathering children with Korean women and then abandoning mother and child when they go back to the States. Such abandoned families commonly live with stigma and poverty. In Germany, the SOFA stipulates that if a member of the US Army in Germany abandons his family, the US government is responsible for locating the biological father and providing for the abandoned family. And if the child wishes to go to the US, the US government is obliged to give them priority in issuing visas. Besides the inequality of the SOFA articles themselves, there are so many inequalities regarding their implementation that it would be impossible to list them all. Thus, the improvement of practice is just as urgent as the revision of the SOFA itself.

What particularly angers us in the case of armored vehicle that ran over and killed the two schoolgirls is the insolent attitude that the US showed in the process of dealing with the accident. It is in this context that we should demand the improvement of SOFA implementation practices.

Not even once did the US Army sincerely try to understand why the Koreans were so angry or try to apologize. The US Army's attitude is not that of Korea's ally but of an arrogant occupation force. Not only the American soldiers but a considerable portion of the American civilians mistakenly believe that the US Army is stationed in Korea solely to protect South Korea from invasion by North Korea. It cannot be denied that the US Army has, to a certain extent, been a balancer in the confrontation between North and South Korea. But equally undeniable is the fact that American military presence in Korea is part of the US's Northeast Asian security policies, which are based on national self interest. Furthermore, rather than thoroughly investigating the war crimes of Japan after World War II, the US colluded with war criminals and conservative forces, utilizing them as partners in its Northeast Asia security framework. It can be said that current controversies over issues such as the distortion of historical facts in Japanese textbooks and the US-Japan Defense Guideline are the historical by-products of US's post-war policies towards Japan.

We demand that the US change its view of Koreans and Korean civil society, something that is long overdue. It is only when there is such a change in thinking that the Korea-US SOFA can be raised to the standards of the SOFA signed with Japan or Germany, and that a critical review of existing practices can be undertaken. According to comments from American servicemen so far, the two soldiers responsible for the accident had been working under severe fatigue, and the commander had forced them to operate the armored vehicle when its signal equipment was faulty. The time has come for peace-loving women to not only call for the revision of the SOFA and improvement of its implementation but also to demand that the commander be held accountable and punished accordingly.

According to the UNDP's Human Development Report of 2002, the percentage of women in Korea's National Assembly is just 5.9%, ranking 131st among the 161 countries surveyed. The percentage is 5% in the legislative branch, high-ranking administrative offices and private business, placing Korea 67th among 68 countries.

Those who are well aware of these results will not be surprised that Korea's women power index is 0.378, placing Korea 61st among the 66 countries in the ranking.

Why then has Korea gotten such a bad reputation as a backward nation when it comes to women's rights? Because Korean women are less educated than the men? The Korean women's education index is 0.95, 18th among 173 countries. At the heart of this unsettlingly wide gap between Korea's world-ranking women's education index and world-stinking women power index lies Korean society's 'traps' that hold Korean women captive, such as the hoju system, compulsory military service and discrimination in employment.

Women groups have consistently pointed to the hoju system as one of the major roots of gender discrimination in Korea. The call for the abolishment of the hoju system dates back as early as 1960, when the Civil Code took effect in Korea. But the general framework of the hoju system remains intact to this day - thanks to the resistance of Confucian advocates who claim that the abolishment of the hoju system will "bring about the downfall of the traditional family system" - much to the exasperation of women groups.

The hoju system, literally meaning the 'family head' system, ranks successors to the family head status in the order of son, daughter, wife, mother, and daughter-in-law. This not only encourages male chauvinism but also runs against the spirit of gender equality written into the Constitution. Under the current hoju system, even if a divorced mother holds parental rights and custody over her child, the child still remains in her ex-husband's family register. The same goes for unwed mothers. If an unwed mother chooses to register her child in her own family register with the knowledge of the child's biological father, the father's name must not be recorded in her family register. This naturally obstructs the democratization of family relations and creates serious problems in terms of gender equality and children's rights. And the problems do not stop here. The patriarchal hierarchy on which the hoju system is based leads to even greater preference for sons, which in turn results in the gruesome reality where 30 thousand unborn baby girls are aborted every year in Korea.

Women groups are united in their claim that "the hoju system was imported from Japan, where it was abolished in 1948 for being detrimental to gender equality." Opponents of the hoju system are calling in one voice for the "speedy abolishment of the hoju system in Korea."

With the presidential election around the corner, politicians seem to be moving towards the introduction of systems governing biological parenting and child adoption before phasing out the hoju system. This is a noteworthy turn of events, but women groups are still apprehensive, suspecting that such measures will once again turn out to be an empty pledge that is all talk and no action.

Cho Sun-Hee, a novelist and the former editor of Cine 21, regards the system of compulsory military service as the reason for Korea's backwardness in terms of women's rights. In an article she wrote in Hankyoreh 21, Cho comments, "I believe that you cannot find the ultimate solution for women's problems unless you deal with the issue of the military. The primary victims of compulsory military service are the young men drafted, but the perpetual victims are women, who have to live with the damages for life."

Pointing out the problems with compulsory military service with keen insight, Cho goes on to say, "Before being released to live as civilians, young men are collectively trained for over two years to live as a different race from women. The State mobilizes young men and provides them with lifetime compensation, while women are mobilized to provide that lifetime compensation for the men."

"Military service, regardless of whether women wish to enlist or not, is something that lies beyond their choice, leaving them with nothing but the obligation to accept their status as second-class citizens." From this comment by Cho, it can be seen how negatively compulsory military service affects women's rights in Korea.

The first time that society throws gender discrimination at women in the face is usually when they are seeking employment. In this regard, employment inequality is another serious problem faced by women. It is all too common to see women with equally high grades and linguistic skills as their male competitors being passed over by prospective employers. The field of pure science and engineering is particularly notorious for not accepting women.

Even if women succeed in getting employed, the working life that awaits them is no bed of roses. They have to slog down the thorny path of job allocation, training, personnel management and so on. It is the not-so-obvious discrimination in the process that evokes greater fear.

Marriage and motherhood are also significant stumbling blocks in women's employment. In short, women who are married or have children not only find it difficult to get employed but also have to face the danger of losing their current jobs. It has long become common practice for companies to silently pressure female employees who get married or give birth to "get the picture and hand in their resignation." Women who ignore this unspoken rule will be branded 'thick-headed' and their company life could turn into a living hell.

<reported byShin Ah-ryeung arshin@womennews.co.kr>

An opinion has recently emerged claiming that women, whose rights ought to be protected by the law, are vulnerable in criminal procedure, which is dominated by male-oriented mentality. This is particularly so in sexual violence cases in which women, who are supposed to be protected, often become the target of censure, suffering more than the sexual violence itself by being made to feel guilty during the investigations for "not having resisted enough."

This is the opinion illustrated by Seoul National University law professor Cho Kuk in the material she prepared for the seminar on 'the protection of vulnerable groups in criminal procedures' to be held on December 10 on the 12th anniversary of the death of lawyer Cho Young-Rae (organized by the Public Good and Human Rights Law Research Center, Seoul National University). Through the material, professor Cho harshly criticizes the male-oriented ideology prevalent in criminal procedure.

According to Cho, "investigative authorities maintain neutrality and coldly deal with facts, but this 'neutrality' is already directly and indirectly tainted with the male-oriented ideology that dominates views on sexual violence." Claims Cho, "In order to prevent the double victimization of the women involved, authorities must acknowledge that the victim is the only witness in rape cases where there are typically no eye-witnesses."

Cho also points out, "For the victim, who is already mentally and physically battered, going through the investigation is in itself another form of suffering. It is only natural for victims, suffering from so-called 'rape syndrome,' to be passive, reluctant or inconsistent in their statements to the police."

Cho emphasized that downplaying the credibility of the victim's statement based on her attire, profession or lifestyle, or alluding that the victim 'asked to be raped' by say, wearing a provocatively short skirt, is utter nonsense and a serious violation of the woman's privacy and human dignity.

Cho also pointed out that "in a situation dominated by distorted views, more obstacles await victims who brave the disadvantageous reality to make police reports." She stressed, "Rather than offering victims encouragement and consolation, criminal procedure ironically makes them targets of more suspicion and censure, resulting in 'double victimization.'"

In particular, when investigators take statements from the victims, they ask such questions as 'whether the rape suspect ejaculated,' 'how long the penis remained in the vagina,' and 'how the victim felt in the process.' Investigators also concentrate on finding out if the victim put up a substantial resistance, forcing the victim to feel a shared sense of guilt for the crime inflicted on her.

According to Cho, "In a sexual violence case in Korea, it is not just the suspect but also the victim who is put on trial. A woman's 'right of sexual self-determination' is accepted in theory, but in reality, the court often focuses on totally irrelevant issues."

Cho concludes, "With rape prevention laws existing in Western countries including the US as a point of reference, we urgently need to legislate laws that pursue the suspect's guilt rather than the victim's morality. It is when such efforts are made that we can reduce the women's suffering in the currently male-dominated criminal procedure. "


<reported byShin Ah-Ryeung arshin@womennews.co.kr>

- Showcasing 100 years of women's activities and achievements

◀ Officials of the Ministry of Gender Equality and experts inspect the historical artifacts to be exhibited in the Hall on December 4. <photograph courtesy of the Ministry of Gender Equality>

A Women's History Exhibition Hall that will showcase 100 years of women's activities and achievements is set to open on December 9.
The Exhibition Hall, the first of its kind in Korean history, will be opened by the Ministry of Gender Equality (Minister Han Myung-Sook) in the Seoul Women's Plaza in Daebang-dong, Seoul. Women's activities and achievements spanning 100 years from the modern era to the present will be exhibited in five parts. The exhibits are largely made up of historical artifacts of acknowledged feminine historical value and audio-visual material using state-of-the-art technology. Opening hours are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday. For inquiries, contact 02-2106-5282.

<reported by Bae Young-hwan ddarijoa@womennews.co.kr>

(The Women's News http://www.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