Kwon In-sook (also Kwŏn Insuk or Insook; born 1964) is a former

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n labor organizer who inspired women in South Korea to form the

Korean Women's Associations United Korean Women's Associations United (KWAU or ''Yǒsǒng tanch'e yǒnhap'') is an umbrella organization made up of 33 other associations in order to focus on women's issues in South Korea. Along with the Korean National Council of Women (KNCW), KWAU h ...

(KWAU). Kwon is the first woman to bring charges of sexual assault against the South Korean government. She was also considered by

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

Namhee Lee to be "an emblematic figure of South Korea in the 1980s; she embodied the passion, the ideals, and the conflicting aspirations of the 1980s democratization movement." Kwon later became a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

scholar in South Korea.

Biography

As a middle school student, Kwon recalls feeling "duped" by the Korean government in power. She had been involved with student movements at the time, and said that "It was hard to swallow the betrayal and anger against adults to had fed lies to the young." Kwon went on to become a student activist in the democratic movement while in college. Later, as a

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the three "S ...

student, she obtained a

blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...

job by not reporting her university credentials. She lied about her education in order to "organize factory workers into a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

." In June 1986, she went to the police station in Puch'ŏn in order to address charges that she had falsified documents. She had also been charged for taking part in a "violent demonstration." Kwon was sexually abused at the police station by an officer, Mun Kwi-dong. Kwon went on to file sexual abuse charges against the government, which were initially considered "exaggerated" by authorities, even though the government had already admitted that she was "forced to remove her jacket and T-shirt and was beaten 'in the breasts three or four times' on two occasions during the questioning." In July 1986, a rally in protest of her treatment was sponsored by Kim Yong-sam and the New Korea and Democratic Party (NKDP), but was stopped by police with

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

. During press coverage of the case, the South Korean government micromanaged how the press would report what happened to Kwon, including guidelines that changed the tone of the case and which also cast Kwon as a liar and possibly a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. The initial reporting of the story was a single line at the bottom of the social page in ''Korea Daily''. A spokesman for the government called her allegations of sexual assault a "routine tactic used by student radicals." Eventually the police did admit that "she had been sexually molested during interrogation." Kwon was eventually imprisoned for eighteen months for falsifying identification documents. Criminal charges against Mun were dropped because while "the prosecution office said its investigation into Kwon's complaint found some truth" there was still not enough evidence for them to proceed with the trial. In addition, the prosecution claimed that while she had been beaten on the breasts while nude, the government did not "consider these acts sexual abuse." Kwon was released from prison in 1987, along with hundreds of other political prisoners in Korea. Mun was eventually assessed $45,000 in civil penalties after "extensive legal maneuvering." Kwon's case is considered an illustration of cover-ups regarding political neutrality of the South Korean judicial system in the mid-1980s. Kwon has gone on to become a feminist scholar whose work analyzes

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...

constructs of

masculinity Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...

militarized Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

areas and how these concepts affect women, children and civilians.

Legacy

The news that Kwon had sued regarding her sexual abuse would "rock Korean society for months. It was shocking that a young woman would go public with an accusation that was more likely to damage her own reputation than that of the accused." Traditionally, sexual and physical abuse was considered an "unspeakable experience," but Kwon's public testimony helped reframe the issue of sexual abuse in South Korea by "recasting her experience from the 'shame of the victim' to the 'crime of the perpetrator." The acts of sexual abuse as described by Kwon led to the creation of the KWAU which would influence Korean politics in the 1990s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwon, In-sook 1964 births Living people Feminist studies scholars Myongji University faculty Liberalism in South Korea Seoul National University alumni South Korean feminists South Korean activists South Korean women activists LGBT rights activists from South Korea Asian social liberals Rutgers University alumni Clark University alumni People from Wonju Minjoo Party of Korea politicians