Professor Lee Sujeong, on 'Abolition of Ministry of Gender Equality' Controversy: "Half of Yoon's Judicial Pledges Are Women's Policies"

Lee Su-jeong to Ministry of Gender Equality and Family: "Operations Can't Continue Like This"

Professor Lee Su-jeong, Department of Criminal Psychology, Kyonggi University. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Recently, as women's organizations have urged President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol to withdraw his pledge to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, on the 11th, Professor Lee Soo-jung of the Department of Criminal Psychology at Kyonggi University pointed out, "Only the symbolic meaning of the title 'abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family' has been promoted, and none of the pledges have been properly conveyed to the public."

Professor Lee, who served as an advisor to the Women's Headquarters of the People Power Party's election campaign headquarters, appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' that day and said, "Women's policies remain intact. Looking at the judicial pledges of President-elect Yoon, half of them are women's policies."

She explained, "About one-third of the work previously done by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is included in our camp's judicial pledges," adding, "The youth and family-related support policies from the Ministry's existing duties are all included in the Ministry of Health and Welfare's pledges."

Professor Lee also mentioned that she had previously opposed the 'abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family' and criticized the Ministry by saying, "It cannot be operated as it is now."

She said, "The work done by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family can be broadly divided into three parts," and added, "Looking at President-elect Yoon's pledges, two of these have been delegated to related ministries to provide much tighter support. The remaining one is gender mainstreaming, a kind of women's policy."

She continued, "(Women's policies) do not have a strong voice if handled by a specific department alone," and said, "Therefore, it is much more effective for the government to maintain interest by placing bodies such as a Gender Equality Committee directly under the president or under the Prime Minister's Office to continuously exert educational effects."

When the host asked, "Does President-elect Yoon have a high level of understanding of women?" Professor Lee replied, "President-elect Yoon is very protective of women," and said, "I believe many things were included in the judicial pledges because Yoon's opinions were reflected."

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is speaking while meeting with Christopher Del Corso, Charg? d'Affaires of the United States to Korea, at the office for the president-elect set up at the People Power Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul on the 11th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, the Korean Women's Associations United urged President-elect Yoon on the 10th to abandon the pledges to 'abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family' and 'strengthen punishment for false accusations of sexual crimes.'

In a statement released that day, the organization said, "During the election period, the People Power Party and the president-elect actively used the regressive and fictitious frame of hate speech and 'gender conflict' in their election campaign, disappointing many citizens," and added, "We hope President-elect Yoon and the People Power Party fully understand the meaning of the public sentiment that elected the 20th president by a very narrow margin of less than 1%, despite the strong public opinion for regime change."

They continued, "The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family should be further strengthened, and all ministries should establish departments responsible for gender equality policies," and said, "To fundamentally and systematically resolve gender discrimination and violence that occur complexly in various areas, a control tower such as a presidential Gender Equality Committee (tentative name) with real authority should be established."

Furthermore, they emphasized, "We strongly urge the Yoon Seok-yeol government once again to fulfill its responsibility for realizing gender equality, and feminists will continue to unite and fight for a gender-equal society free from discrimination and violence."

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