Lee Su-jeong "Even if the Ministry of Gender Equality is abolished, women's policies will not disappear... Gender equality work continues in each ministry"

"Election Manifesto Packed with Strengthened Women's Policies"
"Yoon Aims to Strengthen Policies Instead of Abolishing Ministry of Gender Equality"

Lee Su-jeong, Professor of Criminal Psychology at Kyonggi University / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Professor Lee Sujeong of the Department of Criminal Psychology at Kyonggi University, who served as the co-chair of the People Power Party's joint election countermeasures committee, argued that "abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) does not mean that women's policies will disappear" regarding President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol's women's policies.

On the 14th, in an interview with YTN Radio's 'Hwang Boseon's Start of a New Morning,' Professor Lee said, "There was a very big misunderstanding about women's policy issues due to the election."

She continued, "From my personal standpoint, the abolition of MOGEF may be regrettable, but MOGEF was a special ministry, wasn't it?" She explained, "In this era of fierce competition, there are various issues raised about whether policies that are protective of women and seen as special privileges for a specific gender should continuously be implemented."

She added, "Instead of abolishing the ministry called MOGEF, the goal of President-elect Yoon was to create pledges that strengthen all the policies within it," and speculated, "It seems he thought that if the work done by the Rights Bureau is transferred to the Ministry of Justice, victim protection could be much better."

Professor Lee also emphasized that the People Power Party's women's pledges are very solid. She said, "If you look at the pledge book we printed, from page 275, there are countless women's policies densely written to be further strengthened," mentioning, "There are expansions such as extending maternity leave from the current one year to one and a half years and increasing support funds."

She added, "I was mainly involved in judicial pledges, and half of those were women's safety pledges," and said, "It was about responding with much stricter punishment for sexual offenders."

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is answering questions from the press after announcing the appointment results of the Presidential Transition Committee chairman and vice-chairman at the People Power Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 13th. / Photo by Yonhap News

She said, "The problem seems to be that this has not been well communicated to the public. There is definitely a need to explain more in this regard," and added, "Although there is no women's title department within the transition committee, various tasks aimed at gender equality will be carried out by each ministry. I expect the transition committee to be organized and perform its duties in a way that realizes the intent of the pledges."

Earlier, President-elect Yoon stated that he would continue to push forward with the pledge to abolish MOGEF. At the People Power Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, he said, "The pledge to abolish MOGEF is a 'principle,'" and argued, "Hasn't MOGEF fulfilled its historical mission?"

When asked by reporters how he would overcome opposition from both ruling and opposition parties regarding the pledge to abolish MOGEF, he added, "I believe it is currently difficult to solve the crimes and unfair issues that women or men face in specific situations through the collective distinction of women and men and equal treatment of those groups."

He also explained, "In the past, gender discrimination between men and women was severe, so MOGEF was created during the Kim Dae-jung administration and has played a role through many legislations," and said, "Now, it is right to respond more decisively to individual and specific unfair cases and criminal matters, so I believe the ministry has fulfilled its historical mission."

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