People’s Democracy Party (‘Republic of Korea’)
Women in the ‘Republic of Korea (ROK)’ are trapped within a structure of double and triple exploitation. Although Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in August 1945, the US military occupied the southern half of the Korean Peninsula in September of the same year and established a pro-US puppet regime, through which it has continued to dominate ‘ROK’ politically, exploit it economically, and subjugate it culturally. Under this colonial rule by US imperialism, ‘ROK’ failed to eliminate the remnants of feudal customs and instead transformed into a distorted capitalist society in the 1980s. The chaebol conglomerates in ‘ROK’ are not monopolistic capital but comprador capital―historically and structurally subordinated to US imperialism.
Women in ‘ROK’ therefore suffer not only the oppression and exploitation imposed on all colonial working people but also the unequal treatment rooted in lingering feudal traditions. As of 2024, the gender wage gap in ‘ROK’ stands at a staggering 29%, the worst among the 35 OECD member states. The wage gap among those in their 50s reaches 44%. 23.8% of female workers are classified as low-wage workers―more than twice the rate for men. Despite enduring various forms of inequality, women are often blocked from economic and social participation due to so-called “career breaks” caused by childbirth and child-rearing. As a result, they are forced into low-quality, low-paid jobs that carry a constant risk of dismissal. Even when women and men participate equally in economic activity, women still endure more than 2.5 times the amount of domestic labor compared to men.
To illustrate the persistent nature of gender and class inequality, consider the following historical comparison: During the Japanese colonial period over a century ago, when a Japanese man earned 100 units, a Korean man earned 50, and a Korean woman earned only 25. Today, in ‘ROK’’s colonial, semi-capitalist society (‘semi-capitalist’ means deformed and subordinate society by the US), regular workers earn the equivalent of 100, while irregular workers earn 66 units, and among them, women make up 57% of the irregular workforce, yet their wages are significantly lower than those of male irregular workers. Just as ‘ROK’ society remains colonial in nature even after 100 years, the miserable condition of women has never truly changed.
As economic crises deepen, livelihoods collapse, and the threat of war escalates, the oppression of women takes on increasingly extreme forms. Since the 2010s, 8 out of 10 victims of violent crimes have been women. Such “misogynistic violence” has become alarmingly widespread. By structurally embedding gender discrimination, imperialism and comprador capital not only maintain domination and exploitation over the masses, but also cunningly deflect attention from the root causes of inequality. They incite both misogyny and misandry, encouraging antagonism between men and women so that blame is directed at one another rather than at the oppressive system itself. In this context, it is not surprising that extreme forms of feminism have emerged among certain segments of women―an expression of frustration shaped by systemic injustice. Therefore, the “women’s question” must be addressed not only as a matter of gender, but also as a national and class issue. The true oppressors of women are not men themselves, but rather imperialist and comprador―capitalist systems that systematically exclude women from economic and social participation, subjecting them to multiple layers of exploitation and dispossession precisely because they are women.
Amid the escalating threat of World War 3 and the looming crisis of renewed conflict on the Korean Peninsula, the suffering and oppression of women in ‘ROK’ continues to deepen. The fascist puppet regime of US imperialism, led by Yoon Suk-yeol, attempted a series of provocations: a local war against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) between September and November 2024, followed by the declaration of martial law in December, and preparations for a false-flag operation aimed at justifying internal repression. These plans, however, were thwarted-the former by the DPRK’s strategic patience and deterrence power, and the latter by the heroic December Uprising of the ‘ROK’ people. Reports indicate that Yoon’s regime had drawn up plans for mass killings reminiscent of Suharto’s purges, as part of a broader scheme to establish permanent authoritarian rule. In any war or massacre, women and children are the greatest victims. Fascist forces go so far as to take “motherhood” itself hostage. In conscription-based ‘ROK’, Yoon’s militarized repression inflicted severe psychological trauma on women who had sent their sons into military service, only to see them mobilized against their own people.
Today, the storm of World War 3 is sweeping from Eastern Europe, through West Asia (the Middle East), and into East Asia and the Western Pacific. For the imperialist warmongering forces, the latter half of 2024 was intended to serve as a “D-Day” for war in ‘ROK,’ and the war in East Asia. After the failure of this operation, they are raging to trigger local wars at global hotspots, intensifying the war in Ukraine, Palestine, and West Asia, in order to fully launch World War 3. This aggressive agenda is evident in NATO’s threats against Kaliningrad, Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion,” US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, skirmishes between India and Pakistan, conflicts along the Thai-Cambodian border, NATO’s Military Spending Increase to 5% of GDP and the “Militarization of Europe”.
Confronting the most severe global crisis in military, political, and economic terms, the imperialist warmongering forces are making a desperate final attempt to resolve their internal contradictions by constructing a “New Cold War” system through World War 3. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has launched “tariff offensives” against countries around the world, while simultaneously intensifying aggression toward Venezuela as part of a drive to secure global oil dominance, and frenziedly pushing for the occupation of Gaza. As a result, they are facing a backlash: the rising anti-US sentiment in the ‘ROK’; India and Brazil’s Closer Alignment with BRICS―the Anti-Imperialist Bloc; the anti-US popular resistance stance of Venezuela’s people’s government; and desperate resistance by anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist armed forces.
When war breaks out, the dignity and lives of women are completely trampled. In the ‘ROK,’ the extremely tragic issues of 200,000 women subjected to sexual slavery under Japanese colonial rule and military sex slaves under the US invasion army remain unresolved to this day. Our women have vital interests in the anti-war and peace movement, and in the anti-imperialist and anti-US struggles.
Women’s liberation must be achieved by women themselves, as equal participants in both revolution and the construction of a new society. No one can grant it on their behalf; only by realizing through their own strength can women rise proudly as a master of society and their own destiny. Historically, Korean women have stood at the forefront of national liberation struggle. During the early phases of resistance under Japanese colonial rule, they courageously shouted “Long live independence” in the face of bayonets, refusing to surrender their dignity even under brutal torture. In the era of anti-Japanese armed struggle, they were not simply supporters of male fighters―they took up arms themselves, stood on the front lines as soldiers, and devoted everything for the path of self-determined liberation. Through their blood and sacrifice, Korean women have written the history of anti-imperialist women’s liberation.
With the launch of the World Anti-Imperialist Women’s Platform, we will oppose imperialism and fascist lackeys, the root causes of violations of women’s rights and destruction of dignity, while exposing and crushing the false propaganda of so-called ‘women’s rights advocacy’ by imperialist and revisionist forces. We will firmly unite in the world anti-imperialist united front to achieve global independence, lasting peace, and genuine gender equality. As one of the two wheels driving the revolutionary cart, we, the women will accelerate the building of a new world that values and respects women, and a new people-centered society through our own strength and struggle.