In South Korea, the murder of a woman on September 14 deeply shocked the country and revived the debate around harassment. Let’s go back to the facts: the man accused of the murder, a 30-year-old, met his victim in 2019 when they both worked for the Seoul metro. He multiplies his advances, sends her hundreds of messages, films her illegally, threatens her. She ended up filing a complaint in October 2021.
Arrested by the police, he was released, without any expulsion order being issued. The day before the scheduled trial date, he goes to the subway station where she works and stabs her in the toilet. Fifteen days later, he was finally sentenced to nine years in prison for harassment.
After this atrocious crime, which immediately made the headlines, thousands of tributes were paid to the murdered young woman. First in front of the crime scene, where thousands of messages are written on post-its, and white flowers placed on the ground in front of the women’s toilets. Kang Ka-eun came like other South Koreans, writing a few words to express her support and outrage: “Recently I saw the news of this murder so I wanted to express my condolences to the victim, that’s why I came here. I was very shocked to hear about this murder, this is a place extremely popular.”
“When I saw the headlines of the newspaper articles that said it was harassment that led to the crime, I thought to myself, that’s just mind-blowing.”
Kang Ka-eunat franceinfo
The crime arouses a wave of indignation in the country because the suspect had already been arrested and numerous demonstrations have been organized since the murder to ask the authorities to protect South Korean women. At one of them on Saturday was Kim, in her twenties, dressed in black, like other dozens of protesters. “I’ve been to feminist protests before and because of that they said I hated men, she indicates. On social networks, I was harassed and I received very threatening calls. So when I saw this news of Sindang’s murder, I thought it could happen to me, or my sister. This cycle of violence must be broken.”
Changing mentalities will not be enough: we must also change the legal texts. In South Korea, harassment has been punished by three to five years in prison since October 2021. Previously, those found guilty could only be fined 72 euros. The new legislation remains insufficiently protective of women, according to this law student at Sungshin University in Seoul: “The law is flawed because the harasser and his victim can have a legal agreement before the trial. The problem is that this can create a new phase of harassment after the complaint. Because the harasser will constantly call his victim in order to push him to accept the financial agreement offered to him. This amounts to creating a second harassment.”
Since the introduction of the new law in October 2021, more than 7,000 people have been arrested for acts of harassment. Only 5% of the suspects were incarcerated.