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Demonstrators rally near Seoul’s Hyehwa Station to protest gender bias in police investigations of illegal photography and filming on July 7. (Yonhap News)

Calls for a gender-equal society continued this past weekend near Seoul’s Hyehwa Subway Station and Gwanghwamun areas. Different rallies are being held simultaneously at different locations, with an eruption of different voices. Tens of thousands of people have gathered in squares to criticize President Moon Jae-in’s remarks about “bitterness” and demand the legalization of abortion.

With the organizers of the Hyehwa protest announcing a fourth rally to come and a Constitutional Court decision pending on the constitutionality of abortion’s criminalization, demonstrations on gender issues appear likely to continue for some time.

On the afternoon of July 7, simultaneous demonstrations to “denounce the biased investigation of illegal filming cases” and “end the criminalization of abortion now” were respectively held at public squares near Seoul’s Hyehwa Station and Gwanghwamun gate. Members of the group Courage to Be Uncomfortable, which held a third rally at Hyehwa Station at 3 pm, chanted “Stop the gender-biased investigation” and “Our lives are not your pornography,” which some 60,000 “biological females” in attendance according to the organized (18,000 according to police estimates).

A new development since the first two rallies was the appearance of signs with messages such as “Are the candlelight demonstrations a ‘revolution’ but the Hyehwa protests ‘bitterness’?” They came in response to remarks made in a July 3 Cabinet meeting by President Moon, who said, “Things like this bitterness among women will only be resolved when we are able to make them feel that we are especially respectful of the senses of shame and dignity associated with women’s sexuality.”

The organizers demanded that President Moon “take responsibility for his words as someone who called himself a ‘feminist.’”

“South Korean women are not going to sit idly by any longer. The government must immediately present and implement concrete measures for a resolution,” they insisted.

71 different civic groups

At 5 pm the same day, including Joint Action to End the Criminalization of Abortion for All, an organization of 16 women’s groups, launched an event at Gwanghwamun Square titled “National Parade to Demand That the Criminalization of Abortion Be Found Unconstitutional and Abolished: End the Criminalization of Abortion Now!”

Gathering ahead of a Constitutional Court ruling on a case involving an appeal over the constitutionality of laws banning abortion, participants noted “growing calls for decriminalization of abortion from all works of life since open arguments were held in the Constitutional Court abortion ban constitutionality case on May 24.”

“We need to bring an end right now to an era where women are branded as criminals for choosing abortion and all responsibility is placed on the women,” participants said.

After finishing their demonstration in the square, participants marched toward the Constitutional Court’s building in Seoul’s Insa-dong neighborhood chanting, “End the criminalization of abortion now.”

Experts characterized President Moon’s Cabinet meeting remarks as “inappropriate” and suggested that the administration “needs to really listen to what the demonstration participants are saying.”

Yoon-Kim Ji-young, a professor at the Konkuk University Institute for Body Culture, explained, “The voices we’re hearing at the Hyehwa Station protests aren’t voices of hatred from ‘bitter’ women – they’re voices of anger.”

“We need to properly interpret this political movement by women to change a society that objectifies and discriminates against women,” she said.

Lee Jin-hee, a guest researcher at the Seoul National University Institute for Gender Research, said that President Moon “made a bad mistake in talking about the Hyehwa Station demonstrations in terms of ‘resolving women’s bitterness,’ like giving another piece of candy to a crying baby.”

“Women don’t need to be ‘appeased.’ He should have sent the message that he intends to change social structures that give rise to gender discrimination and sexual violence,” Lee said.

The experts took a positive view of the fact that two demonstrations on gender issues were staged at the same time. Lee said, “People have their own interests in terms of gender issues, and it’s only right they should send different messages about the things they see as issues.” Yoon-Kim stressed that women’s voices “aren’t something that should be conflated,” suggesting the demonstrations “should be seen as an example of different women politicizing their demands, like the abortion decriminalization demonstrations staged by multiple actors.”

The experts predicted the demonstrations on gender issues would not finish any time soon, but continue for some time ahead.

“Women’s capabilities are much stronger than before,” Lee said.

“Since the 2010s began, there has been a sexual equality wave around the women, and in South Korea, women have begun banding together since the 2016 murder [of a young woman] at Gangnam Station,” she explained.

“Now that we have this strong sense that we can’t afford to sit around any longer, I don’t think that desire for a gender-equal society is going to fade easily,” she predicted.

By Choi Min-young, staff reporter

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