‘UN women center’ to be set up in Korea in Nov.
An international platform on promoting gender equality will be set up in Korea later this year, according to Gender Equality and Family Minister Chung Young-ai, Wednesday.
The first of its kind in the country, the tentatively named “U.N. Women Knowledge Center” will take a leading role in empowering women and sharing women-related initiatives throughout the Asia-Pacific region, she said.
“Following a proposal from U.N. Women, we are cooperating with the international organization to build a platform which we aim to launch by November this year,” the minister said during a press conference in Seoul, the first such event since Chung took office on Dec. 29.
The platform will serve as a center for education, research and partnership building on women-related priorities in and outside the country. The ministry is engaging in talks to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with U.N. Women in the near future.
In addition, the ministry will increase efforts against attempts to distort historical facts about sex slavery by Japan during World War II, in order to protect the honor and dignity of the victims, Chung said, mentioning recent controversies over Harvard Law School professor Mark Ramseyer’s research paper which described Japan’s wartime sex slavery of Korean women as “voluntary prostitution.”
“Based on a victim-centered approach, we are seeking ways to support the surviving victims through continuous talks with them. In order to provide accurate information on the issue to the international community, we are offering 594 files related to sex slavery through a digital archive called Archive 814,” Chung said.
The ministry, which marks its 20th anniversary this year, will assess the outcomes of its past accomplishments and strive to launch more effective policies in the future, with an aim to eradicate discrimination and promote societal diversity.
Through a five-year plan on the framework of families, which was announced earlier this year, the ministry seeks to include various types of “family units” such as single-person households and unmarried cohabitating couples into the legal definition of a family, as well as strengthening support for single parents.
Although diverse forms of families are emerging rapidly in Korea, social prejudice still exists against “untraditional” types of families such as single parents. Recently, the public broadcaster KBS faced backlash from viewers after deciding to invite television personality Sayuri, an unwed mother by choice, to join its show featuring parents and babies.
“Individuals’ choices on marriage and giving birth should be respected, and therefore, we will work on improving laws and measures to support them,” Chung said.