[Editorial] Park Geun-hye only pretends to understand women’s suffering

Posted on : 2012-12-15 13:15 KST Modified on : 2012-12-15 13:15 KST

"Can a woman change the world even if she doesn't get married, have a child, or earn any money? Yes she can! The mere fact that she is a woman means that motherhood is in her DNA."

This is what poet and playwright Kim Chi-ha told Park Geun-hye, Saenuri Party (NFP) presidential candidate, when he met her a couple of days ago. This must have been music to the ears of Park, who is ignorant of and uninterested in the social reality that most women face. But is there any truth to this?

Kim was a dissident who was persecuted under Park Chung-hee’s Yushin Regime. He experienced torture and was sentenced to death.



A hundred women who have stood at the vanguard of the struggle for women’s rights for their whole lives asked Park on the same day. "When women were driven from their jobs and left to weep in the streets, when they sacrificed themselves to change laws and systems that were unfriendly to women, and now, when more than 60% of females employees must struggle as irregular workers, what have you said, and what actions have you taken?"

These are the working women who have fought against slave-like working conditions, women whose coworkers lost their lives to police brutality during the Yushin regime, women who have dedicated their entire lives to overcoming sexism and discrimination of all kinds. What these women were not able to tolerate is how the meaning of womanhood has been degraded and twisted by Park's use of the copycat slogan of the "female president."

Really, nothing needs to be added. But we can't omit the fact that Park has neglected the so-called comfort women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during the Second World War. This event must be addressed as it is not only the worst humiliation Korea has experienced in its entire history, but indeed the single greatest tragedy in the long history of female suffering. At the same time, there is no example that more clearly expresses how the heavy burden of social contradictions has been placed on the frail backs of women. 

However, the only time that Park has addressed this issue was in September, at a press conference for foreign correspondents. Even there, she only said "we cannot wait forever to find reconciliation with history. This may be our final chance to come to make peace with history," and pushed us to reconcile with "Japan's wise leaders."

Reconciliation, she says? When even our resolute calls for an apology and compensation from the Japanese government don’t seem strong enough? That tells you just about everything you need to know about Park's mentality. Forget about her understanding of the Korean nation or her awareness of history. She has never cared the least bit about the suffering of women.

In July 2012, photographer Ahn Se-hong held a photo exhibition at the Nikon Salon in Shinjuku, Tokyo, entitled "The Korean Comfort Women Left in China." The photos displayed were poignant depictions of the long years of suffering of Park Dae-im (abducted at the age of 18), Bae Sam-yeop (13), Lee Su-dan (19), and Park Seo-un (20). These women were carted off to Manchuria, where the Japanese Kwantung Army was deployed, the army Park’s father Park Chung-hee served in. Perhaps that's why his daughter keeps ignoring the issue of the comfort women?

Whatever the case, one thing that is clear is that proclaiming yourself as the "female president" while neither speaking about or even reflecting on the comfort women and the sordid tale of women's suffering that they reveal is little short of fraud. The day before Park Geun-hye and Kim Chi-ha met, another former comfort woman, Kim Bok-seon, passed way, and the 1092nd Wednesday Demonstration took place. But these two people kept blathering on about the “female president.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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