'Start with Young Men?'... Yoon Meets Youth and Raises 'Sex Crime and False Accusation Punishments'

Shinjiye Opposed Explicit 'False Accusation Punishment'
Concerns Over Side Effects Due to Harsh Announcement

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party who reorganized his election campaign headquarters under the banner of ‘change and reform,’ has clearly expressed his intention to actively court the votes of ‘I-dae-nam’ (men in their 20s). This appears to be a recognition of the reality that his recent drop in approval ratings stems from the withdrawal of support by I-dae-nam.

On the 6th, Yoon posted on his Facebook a message consisting of only two lines: ‘Strengthening punishment for sexual crimes, strengthening punishment for false accusations.’ This was immediately after attending a meeting with youth aides. The post can be seen as a response to the voices of young people raised at that meeting. At the time, there was much criticism that the decision to recruit feminist Shin Ji-ye or the failure to implement policies that resonate with I-dae-nam was problematic.

The policy direction of ‘strengthening punishment for false accusations’ posted by Yoon is an issue that Shin had opposed after being recruited as the senior vice-chairperson of the New Era Preparation Committee of the election campaign committee. After Shin’s resignation, Yoon’s explicit declaration of his intention to strengthen punishment for false accusations without much explanation seems to be a somewhat overt attempt to court the I-dae-nam vote. Dr. Heo Min-sook, a gender studies scholar and legislative researcher at the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, pointed out, “Both pledges are not entirely misplaced, but especially strengthening punishment for false accusations is a claim that requires very profound research.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, Yang Geum-hee, a member of the People Power Party and chairperson of the Central Women’s Committee, explained, “It is a matter of balancing,” adding, “Not only the pledge to strengthen punishment for false accusations but also all policies related to women’s safety are almost finalized.” Nevertheless, there are concerns within the campaign headquarters that simplifying complex issues into a rough announcement of ‘we will implement such policies’ might cause side effects.

An official from the campaign headquarters said, “Since they (I-dae-nam) have all left, this seems like a gesture to bring them back, but on the other hand, it could cause misunderstandings among people with different views (I-dae-nyeo), so it should be avoided.” Meanwhile, following the recent reorganization of the campaign headquarters, those previously responsible for women’s policy have not yet been appointed to their positions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.