Practicing feminism in South Korea: the issue of sexual violence and the women's movement.

This paper explores feminist practice in South Korea on the basis of a case study on a feminist-run sexual assault centre (SAC). Feminism has been regarded as Western culture' in most parts of Asia. Feminists in Asian countries have been criticised in relation to the introduction of feminism into their countries and the application of 'Western thought' to their local contexts. However, some Asian countries such as Korea have developed their own feminist practice rooted in their specific sociopolitical and cultural context. Through an analysis of development of the first SAC in Korea, this paper shows how the Korean activists have operated SAC as a site of a broader feminist movement even though the idea of the SAC was introduced from Western countries. This paper concludes that feminist practices can be a dynamic process, constituted by social contexts and feminist activists in their local situation.

Introduction

This paper traces how sexual violence became an issue for the women's movement in the midst of the political and social transformation of Korean society from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. First, the paper investigates how approaches to the issue of sexual violence have shifted as the direction of the women's movement has been modified according to the political context. Second, significant sexual violence cases, and the role of feminist scholars and of women's studies, which contributed to the emergence of the anti-sexual violence movement, are examined. Last, this paper is also concerned with feminist practice as discursive politics. Thus, the ways in which the SAC has challenged traditional values and raised awareness of sexual violence issues among Korean women are explored. This examination is based on interviews with women's movement activists involved in the anti-sexual assault movement in Korea (June-July z998, December 1999-January 2000), along with other documents and publications.

Although the vigorous activities of the Korean women's movement over the past twenty years have been regarded as exemplary in terms of women's activism in both Western and non-Western countries, (1) research on the Korean women's movement has been scarce, both nationally and internationally. This movement has evolved in relation to the political and social context in Korea, as with women's movements elsewhere. The historical context that includes the partition of the Korean peninsula after the Korean War (1950-1953), state-led rapid economic growth and industrialisation, and political insecurity has contributed to the specific nature of the women's movement in Korea, which has participated in the movement for national liberation, and the modernisation, re-unification, and democratisation of Korean society. (2)

Following political turmoil from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, the women's movement experienced a dramatic change in its direction and strategy. A typical example of developments was the women's movement against sexual violence. In the 1990s, sexual assault issues appeared as a focus of public debate, and the women's movement's fight to raise awareness of these has played a vital role in bringing women's issues onto the public agenda in Korean society for the first time. Considering the seriousness of sexual assault issues in Korean women's lives, the anti-sexual violence movement in Korea has been claimed as the kernel of the women's movement. (3) This has also resulted from the emergence of the first SAC which has been credited with raising awareness of sexual assault issues, and making them more visible and public. Through media presentations and counselling services, these exploded onto Korea's socio-political scene in the early 90s. (4) In addition, women's movement organisations such as the SAC have become one of the leading social forces in Korea since the early 1990s. (5)

The Socio-political Context in Korea

In 1950, the Korean War broke out between domestic forces in the north and the south. (6) An initial period of highly centralised but democratic rule ended with a military coup in 1961, led by Major General Park Chung-Hee and the institution of martial law. The Park regime, which lasted until his assassination in 1979, was a period of severe repression. After a brief spell of democracy, when labour and student unrest and other political activities increased, the military again intervened in 1980. (7)

Although the economy continued to grow well under another general-turned-president, Chun Doo-hwan (1980-1988), suppression of demonstrators in Kwangju in May 1980 and his authoritarian rule caused increasing resentment among the people. In 1987, as a result of the continuous protests, the government issued the June 29 Declaration which provided a constitutional amendment for direct presidential elections. (8) After the June 10 uprising of 1987, political freedom, characterised by free elections and the consequent strengthening of civil society, not only brought about a dramatic change in public opinion toward democratic government, but also necessitated considerable transformation of the democracy movement and the women's movement.

In 1993, a peaceful transfer of power to a duly elected civilian president, Kim Young Sam, took place for the first time in 32 years. (9) In 1997, Kim Dae-jung was elected the president of the country, as South Korea's first successful opposition candidate. South Korea has experienced transition from state-led economic development to a more open market economy; from authoritarian populism to participatory or corporatist democracy; and from confrontation with North Korea to reconciliation. (10)

The Women's Movement in Korea from the 1910s to the 1990s

The first wave of the Korean women's movement, emerging in the late 19th century, was linked to a strong sense of nationalism because it emerged under Japanese colonial rule. The initial experience of Korean women in politics evolved from the national liberation movement, not from a suffrage movement as in most Western countries. (11) Liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 was followed by the division of Korea at the 38th Parallel which marked the occupation of the North by the Soviet Union and the South by the United States.

In the period from 1946 to 1961, there was a vacuum in women's movement polities in Korea. The establishment of the Republic of Korea in 1948 introduced a new constitution which prohibited discrimination against women with regard to basic rights, access to employment and education, and in marriage. After the Korean War, 1950-1953, the women's movement became mainly a movement for improving middle-class women's fights. One of the activities of the women's rights movements was to focus on family law reform. Other women's groups remained as organisations of middle class women for mutual friendship or leisure time, rather than focusing on women's rights issues or women's liberation. (12) A few women pioneers took part in politics without necessarily seeing themselves as representing women. (13)

During the 1960s and 1970s, South Korean society underwent an unprecedented period of rapid social and economic change. The national partition strengthened the ideology of 'all-out national security' and suppressed freedom of speech and criticism of state policies and society. In the process of pursuing a rapid economic development policy, women were first mobilised into the labour market as a cheap labour force; second, women continued to be the main target for the family planning project which had been implemented for the purpose of raising the per capita income. They were also mobilised to propagate and reinforce the ideology of 'all-out national security', (14) for instance, through the Saemaulundong (New Village Movement). It is evident that this movement during this period forced women to sacrifice themselves for the purpose of national development. (15)

In the 1970s, a struggle to reform family law combined with occasional labour strikes of female factory workers were major activities of the women's movement. In the early 1970s, women's groups were not particularly concerned with issues regarding women's rights and equality. At that time, there were 57 women's groups, but the vast majority focused on mutual friendship and occupational interests. Only five groups worked for the improvement of women's status. The majority of the women's groups were affiliated with the Council of Korean Women's Organisations (CKWO), a government-sanctioned umbrella organisation of women's groups. The activities of CKWO during this period tended to support and vindicate the authoritarian and …