South Korea's president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's team on Thursday retracted its promise to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality, an initiative heavily criticized by feminist groups.
During the March election campaign, Yoon advocated eliminating this ministry and argued that South Korean women do not suffer “systematic gender discrimination” despite evidence of existing inequality in wages, labor participation or representation in the country's corporate and political elite.
But on Thursday, their transition of powers team assured that they would keep the portfolio for now. “It has been decided that the composition of the cabinet will be based on the current system of government,” Ahn Cheol-soo, head of this committee, told the press.
This body will announce the head of the Gender Equality portfolio along with the other members of the government, Ahn explained.
Another member of his team, Choo Kyung-ho, said the promise was “still valid”, but it had been delayed because there were “different opinions” on how to reorganize the government.
Experts had warned that the abolition of the ministry would be difficult because it required a review of legislation in the Parliament, currently controlled by liberals.
After the election, won by a short margin, Yoon promised that he would keep his promise and that, if he did not, he would have “lied” to his followers.
Yoon's position mobilized the female electorate against her, with more than 10,000 young women joining the leftist Democratic Party in power so far.
Linda Hasunuma, a political scientist at Temple University, told AFP that the president-elect “can still incite his base and curb the gender equality agenda” and “fuel divisions, fears and misinformation about women's equality.”
Yoon Suk-yeol was elected as president of South Korea, after his ruling rival, Liberal Lee Jae-myung, acknowledged his defeat.
After counting 98% of the votes, Yoon, of the People's Power Party (PPP), “won 48.59% of the votes, compared to 47.79% for Lee,” from the Democratic Party (center-left) of current President Moon Jae-in, said Yonhap.
The first polls published in South Korea separated the two favourites by half a point in the presidential elections.
The public broadcaster KBS and private broadcasters MBC and SBS gave 48.4% support to Yoon compared to 47.8% for Lee.
The recount began around 20.10 local time (GMT), according to the National Electoral Commission (NEC), and continues until the early hours.
Lee, 57, former governor of Gyeonggi province, used his experience in the Public Administration to campaign under the slogan of a pragmatic president who will resolve both economic and foreign affairs issues. In addition, in 2015, Lee was suspected of being involved in a corruption case in the construction of buildings in Seoul when he was mayor of Seoul.
(With information from AFP)
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