The violent murder of a woman at a central Seoul subway station by a former colleague casts a glaring spotlight on how easy it is for stalking to develop into violent crimes and undermines South Korea’s global leadership goals.

Stalking is rising as a ubiquitous form of gender violence in South Korea. But South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who claimed earlier this year that “structural gender discrimination” didn’t exist and whose cabinet is overwhelmingly male, along with ruling conservatives, appear at best tone-deaf to the issue and at worse willing to let it get worse. 

The administration opted