In a scarily Handmaid’s Tale-esque remark, Kim Hee-soo, a high-ranking South Korean official of South Jeolla Province, has suggested “importing women” from Vietnam or Sri Lanka to mitigate low birth rates. At face value, this is not only a shock to the system for women everywhere, but an insult to those in minority ethnic groups.
Yes, the ruling Democratic Party that the official belonged to has since unanimously voted for his expulsion, and the South Jeolla Province has formally apologised. But is this punishment enough? In a political landscape not dissimilar to the UK in terms of democratic ideology, this is a striking reminder of the extent to which gender and race-based discrimination permeate current society. Kim See-hoo’s suggestion has rightfully caused outrage and protests throughout Vietnam, whose authorities have criticised Kim’s words as reflecting an ingrained, dangerous “attitude towards migrant women and minority groups”. Sri Lanka has yet to comment.
This statement was only penalised because it was televised. What if it hadn’t been? Kim’s apology did not seem to reflect a true understanding of his fault, instead taking accountability for ‘inappropriate language’. He was expelled from the party but continues to live in society with those same values: the same belief that an acceptable solution to a declining birth rate is to ‘import’ women. The implication of his words is nothing short of dystopian. The situation begs the question of what regard South Korea’s ruling figures hold women in, or the world’s ruling figures, for that matter? Are we seen as commodities to be imported to perform a function? With the rise of the right across the Western world and an increase in political extremism and discrimination towards minority groups, this incident is unfortunately no outlier. We seem to be moving towards a world in which political traditionalism dominates, taking any progression of minority women’s rights back into the past with it.
That being said, with every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and we can take strength in the recognition of the minority voices in protest and the subsequent dismissal of Kim Hee-soo. Perhaps there is enough grounding in modern-day democracy and women’s rights for us to hold on to it, bringing it with us into our future.
Photo by Daniel Bernard on Unsplash
Related
Suggestion to “import” foreign women to boost birth rates in South Korea symbolic of growing political traditionalism
In a scarily Handmaid’s Tale-esque remark, Kim Hee-soo, a high-ranking South Korean official of South Jeolla Province, has suggested “importing women” from Vietnam or Sri Lanka to mitigate low birth rates. At face value, this is not only a shock to the system for women everywhere, but an insult to those in minority ethnic groups.
Yes, the ruling Democratic Party that the official belonged to has since unanimously voted for his expulsion, and the South Jeolla Province has formally apologised. But is this punishment enough? In a political landscape not dissimilar to the UK in terms of democratic ideology, this is a striking reminder of the extent to which gender and race-based discrimination permeate current society. Kim See-hoo’s suggestion has rightfully caused outrage and protests throughout Vietnam, whose authorities have criticised Kim’s words as reflecting an ingrained, dangerous “attitude towards migrant women and minority groups”. Sri Lanka has yet to comment.
This statement was only penalised because it was televised. What if it hadn’t been? Kim’s apology did not seem to reflect a true understanding of his fault, instead taking accountability for ‘inappropriate language’. He was expelled from the party but continues to live in society with those same values: the same belief that an acceptable solution to a declining birth rate is to ‘import’ women. The implication of his words is nothing short of dystopian. The situation begs the question of what regard South Korea’s ruling figures hold women in, or the world’s ruling figures, for that matter? Are we seen as commodities to be imported to perform a function? With the rise of the right across the Western world and an increase in political extremism and discrimination towards minority groups, this incident is unfortunately no outlier. We seem to be moving towards a world in which political traditionalism dominates, taking any progression of minority women’s rights back into the past with it.
That being said, with every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and we can take strength in the recognition of the minority voices in protest and the subsequent dismissal of Kim Hee-soo. Perhaps there is enough grounding in modern-day democracy and women’s rights for us to hold on to it, bringing it with us into our future.
Photo by Daniel Bernard on Unsplash
Share this:
Like this:
Related