[Editorial] A presidential candidate that disrespects women

Posted on : 2007-09-14 09:57 KST Modified on : 2007-09-14 09:57 KST

There are reports that at a little dinner get-together on August 28 between Grand National Party (GNP) presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak and roughly ten editors of major dailies, Lee gave a "lecture" of sorts about the proper way to choose one of the "massage girls" who work in a certain service industry. "I got a massage back when I worked for Hyundai in Thailand," he told them. "Employees who had been in country for the long-term always avoided choosing massage girls with the prettiest faces. After wondering why, I realized that the pretty ones would have taken a lot of customers, but the ones that aren't pretty give you really good service out of gratitude. Their way of choosing massage girls was based on wisdom," he is quoted as saying.

His comments make you doubt his basic dignity and qualities as a presidential candidate. The way he expressed himself was vulgar enough, but the more fundamental problem is a way of thinking that accepts the commercialization and prostitution of women as just a matter of course. The foreign massage establishment he was talking about is widely known for regularly selling sex. The people present at the time differ on whether Lee was talking about his own experience or was simply quoting his company superiors. But it is clear he called the skill of choosing the "right woman" for paid sex "wisdom for life."

These comments are so vulgar that it is hard to believe they are coming from a leading candidate for president. It is indeed being treated as the serious issue it is, as women's groups are asking for verification of the story's authenticity. There should not even be any need to remind people of how human history has developed in a direction in which discrimination against and exploitation of women is on its way out. Lee's alleged comments were not something you could say if you had the least sense of human decency and consideration for other people.

It was not the first time Lee made derogatory comments toward women. Ahead of a joint primary campaign stop in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province last month, the provincial governor looked at Lee and told him that had he been the governor in the old days he would have directed a gisaeng ("entertainment woman") belonging to the local government house to Lee's room during the night. Lee got himself in trouble when he responded by saying, "You mean the one that came last night wasn't sent by you?" Earlier still, he found himself criticized for saying, "Only women who have had a lot of children can talk about raising them." It would be a shame and a tragedy for Korean women if someone who views females in such a way were to become the country's leader. We hope to see Lee issue a clear apology for his comments and set his understanding of women straight -- with something like some education in gender equality.

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