Practicing Feminism in South Korea: The women's movement against sexual violence

160 Pages·2013·0.583 MB·English

by  Kyungja Jung

Practicing Feminism in
South Korea
The Korean women’s movement, which is seen in both Western and non-
Western countries as being exemplary in terms of women’s activism,
experienced a dramatic change in its direction and strategy in the early
1990s. At the heart of the new approach was an increasing focus on sexual
violence, which has had a huge impact on bringing women’s issues onto
the public agenda in Korea.
This book examines feminist practice in Korea by analyzing the experi -
ences of the country’s first sexual assault center, the Korea Sexual Violence
Relief Center. Based on extensive original research, including interviews
with activists and extensive participant observation, it explores why feminist
activists in South Korea chose to organize around the issue of sexual
violence, the strategies it used to do so, what impact the movement has
made, and what challenges it still faces to achieve its objectives.
Kyungja Jung is a senior lecturer in Social Inquiry at the University of
Technology, Sydney.
Asian Studies Association of Australia Women in Asia Series
Editor: Lenore Lyons (The University of Sydney)
Editorial Board:
Susan Blackburn (Monash University)
Hyaeweol Choi (The Australian National University)
Michele Ford (The University of Sydney)
Louise Edwards (University of Hong Kong)
Trude Jacobsen (Northern Illinois University)
Vera Mackie (University of Wollongong)
Anne McLaren (The University of Melbourne)
Mina Roces (University of New South Wales)
Dina Siddiqi (The City University of New York)
Andrea Whittaker (The University of Queensland)
Mukkuvar Women Women in Asia
Gender, hegemony and capitalist Tradition, modernity and globalisation
transformation in a South Indian Louise Edwards and Mina Roces(eds)
fishing community 2000
Kalpana Ram1991
Violence against Women in Asian
A World of Difference Societies
Islam and gender hierarchy in Turkey Gender inequality and technologies of
Julie Marcus1992 violence
Lenore Manderson and Linda Rae
Purity and Communal Boundaries
Bennett(eds) 2003
Women and social change in a
Bangladeshi village Women’s Employment in Japan
Santi Rozario1992 The experience of part-time workers
Madonnas and Martyrs Kaye Broadbent 2003
Militarism and violence in the Chinese Women Living and Working
Philippines Anne McLaren(ed.) 2004
Anne-Marie Hilsdon1995
Abortion, Sin and the State in Thailand
Masters and Managers
Andrea Whittaker2004
A study of gender relations in urban
Java Sexual Violence and the Law in Japan
Norma Sullivan1995 Catherine Burns2004
Matriliny and Modernity Women, Islam and Modernity
Sexual politics and social change in Single women, sexuality and
rural Malaysia reproductive health in contemporary
Maila Stivens1995 Indonesia
Linda Rae Bennett 2005
Intimate Knowledge
Women and their health in North-east The Women’s Movement in Post-
Thailand Colonial Indonesia
Andrea Whittaker2000 Elizabeth Martyn2005
Women and Work in Indonesia Gender and Labour in Korea and Japan
Michele Ford and Lyn Parker(eds) Sexing class
2008 Ruth Barraclough and Elyssa Faison
(eds) 2009
Women and Union Activism in Asia
Kaye Broadbent and Michele Ford
Gender Diversity in Indonesia
(eds) 2008
Sexuality, Islam and queer selves
Gender, Islam, and Democracy in Sharyn Graham Davies2010
Indonesia
New Women in Colonial Korea
Kathryn Robinson2008
A sourcebook
Sex, Love and Feminism in the Asia Hyaeweol Choi2012
Pacific
A cross-cultural study of young Women Writers in Postsocialist
people’s attitudes China
Chilla Bulbeck 2008 Kay Schaffer and Xianlin Song
2013
Gender, State and Social Power
Divorce in contemporary Indonesia Domestic Violence in Asia
Kate O’Shaughnessy2008 Globalization, gender and Islam in the
Gender, Household, and State in Maldives
Post-Revolutionary Vietnam Emma Fulu 2014
Jayne Werner2008
Gender and Power in Indonesian
Young Women in Japan Islam
Transitions to adulthood Leaders, feminists, Sufis and pesantren
Kaori Okano2009 Selves
Women, Islam and Everyday Life Bianca J. Smith and Mark Woodward
Renegotiating polygamy in Indonesia (eds) 2014
Nina Nurmila2009
Practicing Feminism in South Korea
Feminist Movements in Contemporary The women’s movement against sexual
Japan violence
Laura Dales 2009 Kyungja Jung 2014
This page intentionally left blank
Practicing Feminism in
South Korea
The women’s movement
against sexual violence
Kyungja Jung
First published 2014
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2014 Kyungja Jung
The right of Kyungja Jung to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Jung, Kyungja.
Practicing feminism in South Korea: the women’s movement
against sexual violence/Kyungja Jung.
pages cm. – (Asian Studies Association of Australia women in
Asia series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Feminism – Korea (South) 2. Women – Violence against –
Korea (South) 3. Sex crimes – Korea (South) – Prevention.
4. Women – Political activity – Korea (South) I. Title.
HQ1765.5.J85 2014
305.42095195 – dc23
2013010836
ISBN: 978-0-415-56727-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-88728-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
Contents
Series Editor’s foreword viii
Acknowledgments ix
Acronyms xi
Glossary of Korean terms xii
Introduction 1
1 The Korean anti-sexual violence movement: a newer
women’s movement 9
2 Sexual assault centers as feminist practice: the
establishment of the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center 23
3 From silence to speaking out: cultural change through
discursive politics 43
4 “Doing” the movement: advocacy and legal change 61
5 The renaissance of the women’s movement: the
institutionalization of feminist practice 78
6 The impact of the engagement with the state upon
feminist organizational practice 96
Conclusion: sustaining feminist practice 117
Notes 128
Bibliography 133
Index 143
Series Editor’s foreword
The contributions of women to the social, political and economic trans-
formations occurring in the Asian region are legion. Women have served as
leaders of nations, communities, workplaces, activist groups and families.
Asian women have joined with others to participate in fomenting change at
micro and macro levels. They have been both agents and targets of national
and international interventions in social policy. In the performance of these
myriad roles, women have forged new and modern gendered identities that
are recognisably global and local. Their experiences are rich, diverse and
instructive. The books in this series testify to the central role women play in
creating the new Asia and re-creating Asian womanhood. Moreover, these
books reveal the resilience and inventiveness of women around the Asian
region in the face of entrenched and evolving patriarchal social norms.
Scholars publishing in this series demonstrate a commitment to promoting
the productive conversation between Gender Studies and Asian Studies. The
need to understand the diversity of experiences of femininity and woman-
hood around the world increases inexorably as globalisation proceeds apace.
Lessons from the experiences of Asian women present us with fresh oppor-
tunities for building new possibilities for women’s progress the world over.
The Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) sponsors this publica-
tion series as part of its on-going commitment to promoting knowledge
about women in Asia. In particular, the ASAA Women’s Forum provides
the intellectual vigour and enthusiasm that maintains the Women in Asia
Series (WIAS). The aim of the series, since its inception in 1990, has been
to promote knowledge about women in Asia to both academic and general
audiences. To this end, WIAS books draw on a wide range of disciplines
including anthropology, sociology, political science, cultural studies, media
studies, literature and history. The series prides itself on being an outlet for
cutting-edge research conducted by recent Ph.D. graduates and postdoctoral
fellows from throughout the region.
The series could not function without the generous professional advice
provided by many anonymous readers. Moreover, the wise counsel provided
by Peter Sowden at Routledge is invaluable. WIAS, its authors and the ASAA
are very grateful to these people for their expert work.
Lenore Lyons (The University of Sydney)
Series Editor
Acknowledgments
I am deeply indebted to many people who have assisted me in various ways
along the very long journey to the completion of this book. First, my
enduring gratitude goes to all feminist activists of the Korea Sexual Violence
Relief Center (KSVRC) and the women’s movement against sexual violence
who contributed to this book by taking part in interviews and generously
sharing their memories and stories with me.
I am especially grateful to Young-ae Choi, the first director of the KSVRC,
who encouraged me to join her and other women’s studies graduates on
the ambitious project of establishing the first RCC in Korea and nurtured
me as I became an activist. Special thanks also go to my intellectual home-
town, the Department of Women’s Studies at Ewha Womans University in
Seoul, Korea, and my mentors, Professor Hyo-jae Lee, Professor Phil-wha
Chang, Professor Hyoung Cho, and Professor Soon-kyung Cho. Without
them my journey to feminism and the feminist movement would not have
been possible.
While writing this book, the Asian Center for Women’s Studies and the
Korean Women’s Research Institute at Ewha Womans University kindly
provided office space and a hospitable environment for me to work in as a
visiting fellow.
A special thank you also goes to the hard work of Ja-young Oh and Claire
Nemorin, who offered valuable research assistance for data collection and
revision. I also received fantastic editorial assistance from Victoria Patience
on the entire manuscript.
My thanks also go to my friends in Korea and Australia. I couldn’t have
survived and finished the book without their tireless support and warm
friendship. I would particularly like to thank my novelist friend, Young-
sook Lee, who has cheered me up despite her own battle with her illness
over the last five years.
I would like to thank my family, who have been my greatest source of
personal support; in particular, my dearest parents, Weol-soon Hong and
Jae-jung Jung, for the endless love and care they have given to me and my
lovely son, Woo-yeol Lee, and for the patience and support throughout the
many years that I have been studying for and writing this book.
Finally, I am very grateful to Louise Edwards, the former editor of
Routledge’s Women in Asia series, who gave me an invaluable opportunity