(Sources: left, right)
From the Korea Times:
The government is vowing stronger punishment on sex offenses. As a start, the Justice Ministry has rewritten the law to allow law enforcement authorities to investigate and prosecute sex criminals without a complaint filed from the victim.
But were loose laws ever much of a problem because the majority of our obtuse police officers are regressive enough to claim that some female victims simply had it coming?
The Korea Women’s Development Institute recently quizzed some 200 police officers in South Gyeongsang Province cities over their thoughts on sex crimes against women and the results were disturbing.
About 54 percent of the respondents supported the view that women who wear revealing clothing are somehow culpable in any attacks on them. Around 37 percent of them felt the same about women who drink and 21 percent about women walking alone at night. And 24 percent said they found it difficult to believe a victim when they don’t report the incident right away.
Read the rest at the link. Meanwhile, I’ll try to find the original KWDI report on the survey and/or related news article, and translate it for you by sometime next week.
Also, for anyone interested in the Korean Slutwalk (잡년행진), see here for information about the last two years’ events. I’ve been unable to find any information about this year’s, but do hope that one will go ahead. After all, as the police officers’ attitudes above indicate, unfortunately it’s needed more than ever…
Update: I’m No Picasso has a must-read response to the article.
The Grand Narrative 
As a Korean woman I think it’s worth noting that the sluwalk organization is notoriously racist and therefore not a true ally to women everywhere. It’s a cesspool of self-serving white feminism that heavily relies on white privilege and the exclusion of women of color, Asians included. Korean slutwalk should be aware of this and respond and act accordingly.
http://haifischgeweint.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/a-brief-history-of-slutwalk-racism/
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That’s a great observation, Joan. I’m a feminist, but I’m not a fan of the “slutwalks” for the reason you bring up.
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It’s heartbreaking to see how often Korean women are belittled and shamed for wanting to be sexual. Being a foreign resident living in Korea, it’s easy to see how easily girls can be shamed for talking to us. Korean society needs to start empowering their women to live without fear of being shamed for wanting to be sexual. Korean men and women need to stand up and change how women are treated. The old men and women are dying off and, while that is sad, it does allow for some real change to happen for the young people – but it STARTS with the young people.
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Reblogged this on Errant Buckeye and commented:
SlutWalk is coming to Korea. You have been warned, people.
I love this country partly because, for the most part, its women can dress and act more appropriately than their American counterparts.
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Have you heard about this news story?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/07/15/koreas-web-community-roiled-by-shocking-video-of-western-men-tormenting-a-local-woman/
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Thanks, and yes. Frankly I’m a little tired of most of the commentary on it though, especially tumblrs like this and this that imply that the men in the video are much more representative of white male expats than they really are (which is not to say that there aren’t many young expats like that though), and that it’s somehow Orientalist for (white) Westerners to focus instead on how Korean netizens are directing most of their ire on the woman involved. As if misogyny is in the skin color of the beholder.
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