{"id":2200714,"date":"2023-04-13T18:36:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T09:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2200714"},"modified":"2023-04-14T18:58:19","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T09:58:19","slug":"south-korea-pumps-brakes-on-plans-to-overhaul-rape-laws-despite-calls-for-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/04\/south-korea-pumps-brakes-on-plans-to-overhaul-rape-laws-despite-calls-for-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea pumps brakes on plans to overhaul rape laws despite calls for reform"},"content":{"rendered":"
For more than a decade, South Korea\u2019s rape laws have been <\/span>premised<\/span><\/a> on the use of violence or intimidation, and this narrow definition has increasingly been criticized as out of step with international standards and public expectations in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement.<\/span><\/p>\n Some segments of the ROK government appear to recognize this. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family\u2019s (MOGEF) \u201cThird Basic Plan for Gender Equality (2023-2027)\u201d released on Jan. 26 states that the ministry will actively consider amending the definition of rape to make non-consensual sex a crime, working alongside the Ministry of Justice.<\/span><\/p>\n But earlier this month, South Korean media reported that MOGEF <\/span>will not revise<\/span><\/a> its definitions of rape after all due to opposition from the justice ministry and presidential office, which ordered that the government should only change the law after reflecting the opinions of younger generations and establishing social consensus.<\/span><\/p>\n The proposal\u2019s rejection by the justice ministry, despite its <\/span>previous communications<\/span><\/a> with MOGEF, suggests growing partisan influence within the ministry. MOGEF\u2019s compliance might indicate its focus on achievable goals before potentially losing ministerial autonomy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yoon\u2019s <\/span>government reorganization plan<\/span><\/a>, if passed, would abolish MOGEF, delegating its core functions to a lower-level office under the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The bill, which the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has now<\/span> mostly agreed to<\/span><\/a>, is still pending because of a lack of consensus between it and the government over the gender ministry\u2019s fate.<\/span><\/p>\n All this means that reforming rape laws will be unlikely for the remainder of President Yoon Suk-yeol\u2019s administration, impeding efforts to bring South Korea\u2019s legal system in line with evolving norms around sexual behavior and potentially delaying steps toward establishing a culture based around consent.<\/span><\/p>\n OUT OF STEP<\/b><\/p>\n International human rights law had consistently recognized rape as a form of violence against women since 1992, when the <\/span>U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)<\/span><\/a> made specific recommendations to all U.N. member states that they institute rape laws that give adequate protection to women and respect their integrity and dignity.<\/span><\/p>\n The following year, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the<\/span> Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women<\/span><\/a>, the first universal instrument to address violence against women explicitly. Its text included references to \u201crape\u201d and \u201cmarital rape.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n However, rape remains one of the most widespread yet <\/span>underreported<\/span><\/a> manifestations of violence against women. <\/span>Narrow definitions in conservative criminal laws<\/span><\/a> contribute significantly to high levels of impunity for perpetrators.<\/span><\/p>\n To this end, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women Dubravka Simonovic submitted a \u201c<\/span>Framework for Model Legislation on Rape<\/span><\/a>\u201d to the Human Rights Council in 2021, setting minimum protection standards for countries to adopt.<\/span><\/p>\n The framework holds that the constitutive elements of rape should include all types of a sexual nature by whatever means committed against a person who has not given genuine consent. Here, consent must be given voluntarily and explicitly because the absence of consent is presumed when threats of force or coercion are exercised or implied.<\/span><\/p>\n