Gyeongnam Women's Groups Urge Immediate Resignation of Candidates With Sex Crime Records

Ahead of the 9th nationwide local elections, women's organizations in the Gyeongnam region have called for the withdrawal of candidates with prior records of sex crimes.

On the 19th, a coalition of 22 groups, including the Gyeongnam Women's Association United, issued a statement saying, "Some candidates running in this local election in the Gyeongnam region have prior convictions related to violence against women and sexual violence," and demanded, "Candidates with records of sex crime convictions must step down immediately."

They stated, "Local government heads and local council members occupy public positions responsible for residents' safety, human rights, and gender equality policies," adding, "In particular, local governments are the core administrative entities for preventing violence against women, implementing gender equality policies, and building safe communities. Local politics demands a higher level of gender sensitivity and human rights awareness than any other field."

They continued, "Voters have the right to demand not only policies and pledges from candidates but also to expect sufficient awareness of human rights and responsibility for violence prevention. Especially, violence against women is not a matter of private conflict between individuals but an issue of women's human rights, social power dynamics, and public safety. Therefore, the public sector and political circles must be held to even stricter standards."

The coalition specifically identified independent candidates Oh Tae-wan, running for Uiryeong County Governor, and Lim Chae-ok, running for Geochang County Council.

Candidate Oh has a record of being fined 10 million won for indecent assault and an additional fine of 7 million won for falsely accusing the victim. Candidate Lim was sentenced to one year and six months in prison, suspended for two years, for charges including aggravated indecent assault.

The organizations criticized, "Candidates with records of sex crime convictions have registered for the local elections and are continuing their campaigns. This betrays the expectations of citizens who value the human rights and dignity of women and aspire to a gender-equal society."

They further urged, "Candidates with records related to violence against women and sexual violence should apologize to the public and withdraw immediately."

They also demanded, "The political community must strengthen its standards to exclude those with a history of perpetrating violence against women from candidacy and party nominations, and election management bodies should further enhance the candidate information disclosure system to guarantee voters' right to know."

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