korea Archives | Stop Street Harassment

South Korea: Sexual Harassment Grandpa

May 12, 2012 By HKearl

Trigger Warning for language –

sexual harassment grandpa — via Korea Bang

In South Korea, a college student was subjected to vile words of sexual harassment while riding the subway. Via Korea Bang:

“‘On the 7th of May, at 1 PM I was on the subway from Sadang station, and was victimized by an old man who verbally abused me,’ went the story reportedly posted by a female university student on a portal site webboard.

According to her post, the old man continuously mumbled, ‘You look ripe for gangbang. Good for gangbanging. Do you know what gangbang is? That’s what you are, a gangbang’ at her.

Taken aback by this abuse and not knowing what to do, she could only look away while he continued to verbally abuse her for next 3 stops. She wrote ‘I could not do or say anything because he was an old man and I was such a shock that I could not even dial for police.’ In a state of bewilderment she took the photo of her assailant.

Seeing this, the old man up the ante with more abuses: ‘What, photo? Take it, you are a gangbang. I am an idiot. Take my picture. Should I take your pants off and take some pictures too?’

The student got off at Shinrim Station and immediately reported to the police. But the police responded that ‘if you had called at the spot, we could have detained the man but this is too late already. It is impossible to find [him] with pictures alone.’

She wrote ‘For 8 long minutes I was subjected to torrents of abuse in front of so many people and felt incredibly humiliated. I understand ‘gangbang’ is a word for gang-raping woman. I am so paralized by the sense of indignation now. I would very much like to serve him justice.’

In the posted article she posted the suspect’s photos uncensored.”

First – it’s so disgusting and terrible that he subjected her to this kind of abuse. Second – why do so many laws end up protecting the perpetrators of these crimes?! Ridiculous. Third – Even if he is never held accountable by the law, at least she’s been able to get some justice by publicly shaming him by telling her story and posting his photo.

We’ve all got to keep speaking out until these incidents end!

In Korea, 25 percent of women face harassment on public transportation while commuting

January 27, 2011 By HKearl

From the Korea Times:

“A survey showed that one out of four women who commute using public transportation have experienced sexual harassment, Wednesday.

The survey of 1,500 men and women by the Korea Transport Institute and the Korean Women’s Development Institute also found out that almost half of the female respondents were scared of being harassed or experiencing violent driving when in a taxi.

Men and women showed different results when asked about inconveniences when using subways, buses or taxis.

About 26 percent of the women said they experienced sexual harassment on buses and 21 percent on the subway, compared to 2.3 percent and 2.4 percent of men respectively.

About 52 percent of the female respondents considered taxis as the dangerous means of transportation, citing reasons such as crimes including kidnapping and sexual assaults (31 percent) and violent driving (16 percent).

The institute pointed out the needs of countermeasures regarding harassment, such as reintroducing the women-only subway cars. It also suggested ideas to prevent violence in taxis, including introducing women-only taxis.”

Really? Their only idea for dealing with the high rate of commuter harassment on public transportation is women-only subway cars and taxis?! Arg.

High rates of subway sexual harassment in Korea and Japan

August 17, 2009 By HKearl

Two weeks ago The Korean Times reported that sexual harassment on the subway in Seoul is up 26 percent since last year.

“The incidents include male offenders trying to grope women or take pictures up their skirts.

A total of 345 cases were reported in the first half of this year. In April, when unusually high temperatures hit the nation, such offenses reached a high of 78 and since then, more than 50 cases have been reported each month, police said.

Most of the offenders said they did it out of curiosity.

The actual number of cases might be higher than the published data because many women are afraid of reporting the incidents, a police spokeswoman said.”

I wonder if there were unusually low reports of sexual harassment last year to make the 26 percent jump this year or were reports indeed higher this year than in years past?

At the end of 2007, The Korea Times reported that women-only subway cars were to be reintroduced in Seoul in 2008 as part of an effort to curb sexual harassment of female passengers. Two cars of each subway train on all lines were designated just for women. The current article doesn’t address the women-only cars and whether or not that has had an impact.

Speaking of countries with women-only subway cars, The Japan Times just published an article about subway groping in Tokyo. Last year in Tokyo alone there were 2,000 reported cases of men groping women! From the article:

“According to an MPD study last year, most attacks occurred on trains, primarily during morning rush hours.

Almost half of the victims were in their 20s and more than 30 percent were teenagers.

Last year saw police process 2,169 ordinance violations — the lowest number in the past four years. Police attributed the fall to the 2005 introduction of female-only train cars.”

The article goes on to cover information like “how can someone avoid being a victim?” and “can innocent people be convicted?” without any information about the men who engage in this behavior and how to make them STOP! Because guess what, women wouldn’t have to avoid being a victim and innocent men wouldn’t be falsely accused if there was no groping!!