#Metoo takes off in South Korea, but justice harder to attain

The #Metoo movement has taken off with surprising rapidity in South Korea, toppling male celebrities and a prominent politician in a country where men have long brushed off sexual misconduct allegations and continued with their careers. How far will it go? South Korea largely remains a deeply conservative and patriarchal society rampant with sexism both casual and overt. It has the largest gender pay gap among developed countries and ranks 118th out of 144 nations in the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap index, the lowest among the G-20 members.

While human rights and other progressive movements have slowly picked up pace in recent years and peaceful protests in 2016-2017 ousted the president, it wasn’t until women here started saying Metoo that many realized women had been overlooked.