Report: The Underrepresentation of Women in South Korean Politics – How to Empower Women’s Participation?
Josephine Ørgaard Rasmussen, Jeenou Yi and Mats Engman
Contextual Background
The Stockholm Korea Center of the Institute for Security and Development Policy and the Korea Young Leaders Forum held a one-hour webinar commemorating the International Day for Women, Peace, and Disarmament on May 23, 2025, during which the underrepresentation of women in South Korean politics was discussed. Dr. Hannah June Kim, Associate Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) at Sogang University, and Ms. Yena Lee, International Division Manager at the Korea Young Leaders Forum, were our two speakers, with ISDP’s Ms. Josephine Ørgaard Rasmussen, Korea Center project manager, serving as the moderator. The webinar’s objective was to investigate the causes for the low level of female participation in South Korean politics and to debate potential policy recommendations for empowering South Korean women to pursue careers in politics in the future. The webinar was recorded and made available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO_0FhDKnoE
This report summarizes the main takeaways obtained from the webinar in order to pinpoint some of the underlying factors of the underrepresentation of women in South Korean politics and contains concrete policy recommendations for empowering women to pursue political careers in the future. There is a Korean version accessible after the English version.
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