"Presidential Candidate's Verbal Sexual Violence, Regression in Social Gender Sensitivity"
A recent survey found that about 7 out of 10 office workers believe that disciplinary action at the National Assembly level is necessary for Lee Junseok, leader of the Reform New Party, who made remarks referencing women's bodies and committing verbal sexual violence during a televised presidential debate. On August 24, Workplace Gapjil 119 announced the results of a survey on perceptions of the seriousness of Lee Junseok's verbal sexual violence, conducted by the polling agency Global Research. The survey was carried out online from July 1 for one week, targeting 1,000 office workers aged 19 or older nationwide. The margin of error was ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
According to the results, 66.5% of all respondents recognized the remarks as "serious." The most common response was "somewhat serious" at 36.7%, but "very serious" also accounted for 29.8%. The proportion of those who answered "not very serious" (24.1%) and "not serious at all" (9.4%)-a combined "not serious" response-was 33.5%. By gender, 76.5% of female respondents considered the remarks "serious," and 57.5% of male respondents also viewed them as "serious."
When asked about disciplinary action, the most common response was "discipline is necessary, though not to the extent of expulsion from the National Assembly" at 36.5%. This was followed by "should be expelled from the National Assembly" (31.2%), "an apology was made, so discipline is unnecessary" (25.3%), and "not sure" (7.0%). In total, 67.7% of all respondents answered that some form of disciplinary action is necessary.
"Presidential Candidate's Verbal Sexual Violence, Regression in Social Gender Sensitivity"
Previously, on June 4, the Korean Women's Associations United stated, "On May 27, during the third presidential candidate TV debate, Assemblyman Lee committed verbal sexual violence by describing violence against women's bodies to attack his opponent, while all citizens watched," and posted a petition for Lee Junseok's expulsion from the National Assembly on the National Assembly's online petition site. A total of 604,630 people signed the petition, which closed on July 5.
Expulsion motions for members of the National Assembly are handled by the Special Committee on Ethics. On July 29, the National Assembly Steering Committee referred and passed the motion to form the Ethics Committee, 1 year and 2 months after the opening of the 22nd National Assembly. Workplace Gapjil 119 stated, "Although expulsion of a National Assembly member, who represents the people, is by no means a light matter, the fact that the petition for Assemblyman Lee's expulsion exceeded 600,000 signatures and more than 30% of office workers responded that expulsion-not just simple discipline-was necessary, shows just how serious his remarks are." They added, "The National Assembly Ethics Committee must take the seriousness of Assemblyman Lee's verbal sexual violence incident seriously and deal with it strictly to restore the trust of the citizenry."
Shin Hana, an attorney for Workplace Gapjil 119, said, "The results of this survey clearly show how seriously office workers perceive verbal sexual violence," adding, "The fact that 76.5% of female respondents answered that it is serious reflects the severity of verbal violence experienced by women in reality." She continued, "When a public figure, such as a member of the National Assembly or even a presidential candidate, commits verbal sexual violence in public, it greatly increases the risk of spreading the misguided perception that 'this level is acceptable' even in the workplace." She pointed out, "Assemblyman Lee Junseok's remarks are not just a matter of political dispute, but a grave problem that causes a regression in our society's overall gender sensitivity."
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