{"id":2198153,"date":"2022-08-10T19:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T10:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/pro\/?p=2198153"},"modified":"2023-11-20T19:19:11","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T10:19:11","slug":"south-koreas-lack-of-minority-protections-jeopardizes-its-global-reputation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/08\/south-koreas-lack-of-minority-protections-jeopardizes-its-global-reputation\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s lack of minority protections jeopardizes its global reputation"},"content":{"rendered":"
When U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited South Korea\u2019s national bank in July, one of the top items on her agenda was a town hall event with the Bank of Korea\u2019s (BOK) female employees, reportedly prepared at her request.<\/span><\/p>\n Why Yellen \u2014 the <\/span>only woman<\/span><\/a> in her economics Ph.D. class at Yale \u2014 chose to meet separately with Korean women in public service should be obvious: BOK Governor Rhee Chang-yong is a man, as were <\/span>all 26<\/span><\/a> of his predecessors. Among 976 cabinet-level peers appointed across the ROK\u2019s 74-year history, only <\/span>59 (6.36%)<\/span><\/a> were women.<\/span><\/p>\n The highest levels of public service in Korea have always been an old boys club, and there\u2019s little indication that better days are on the horizon. But institutional misogyny is just one piece of the Korean government\u2019s persistent inability to serve all Koreans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While equal treatment under the law is a constitutional right in South Korea, the lack of broadly applicable implementing legislation means that the constitutional protection has no teeth. As a result, this thriving democracy best known for pop culture output like BTS and \u201cSquid Game\u201d also happens to have a legal regime for social minorities comparable with Jim Crow America.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If a South Korean businessowner wants to affix a sign to their shop window saying \u201cno gays,\u201d \u201cno Blacks\u201d or \u201cno kids,\u201d there is very little the law can do to stop them.<\/span><\/p>\n The contrast with Korea\u2019s democratic peers is becoming increasingly stark. Yellen\u2019s visit underlined this, as did the fact that foreign diplomats of 13 countries participated in the recent Seoul Queer Culture Festival, but no Korean government representatives. And this situation only risks damaging South Korea\u2019s reputation at a time when the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is trying to position his country as a \u201cglobal pivotal state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n ANTI ANTI-DISCRIMINATION<\/b><\/p>\n Efforts to address Korea\u2019s equality deficit with a comprehensive anti-discrimination law have floundered in embarrassing fashion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A bill proposed early during Moon Jae-In\u2019s liberal administration was buried at subcommittee level for the past five years \u2014 including two in which Moon\u2019s party held an overwhelming legislative majority.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet <\/span>two-thirds<\/span><\/a> of the Korean public support an anti-discrimination law that would introduce much-needed legal protections for women, LGBTQ Koreans, racial minorities, North Korean defectors and other disadvantaged groups. Why then have Seoul\u2019s political elites blackballed this law for years?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The problem is demographics as much as politics. Just like the Korean government, Korean politics is dominated by men. They are overwhelmingly in their 50s and 60s, affluent and drawn from white-collar professions \u2014 lawyers, public servants, businessmen, journalists. Conservative or liberal, these old men tend to share a worldview where social issues take a backseat to more pressing business such as North Korea and the economy.<\/span><\/p>\n This demographic also happens to be Korea\u2019s most churchgoing. 41% of National Assembly members (<\/span>81%<\/span><\/a> of whom are male) self-identify as <\/span>Christian<\/span><\/a>, as opposed to <\/span>only 20%<\/span><\/a> of the population at large.<\/span><\/p>\n In particular, many are attendees of the influential and socially conservative megachurches that hold an outsize sway among political elite \u2014 the very same places that organize well-funded counter-rallies to events like queer festivals or the Constitutional Court\u2019s decriminalization of abortion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For example, the National Assembly recently elected as its speaker <\/span>Kim Jin-pyo<\/span><\/a>, a longtime stalwart of liberal politics who has strong church ties and has been one of the most outspoken opponents of an anti-discrimination law.<\/span><\/p>\n Constrained by the biases of their upbringing and their allegiances to Christian fundamentalist groups, it\u2019s hardly a surprise that the old men running Korean politics have pushed equality to the very bottom of the legislative agenda.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n