The incident began on April 28, when a Facebook page titled Kimchinyeo, a slang used to demean Korean women, posted malicious messages along with four pictures. Under the photos, there was a message, reading “Ewha students’ antiwar, antiarmy performance. It depicts a man destroying his mother’s womb after learning only violence and murder from the military.”
The next day, SGA received reports that Kimchinyeo posted malicious messages degrading Ewha. Students collected screenshots of the posting and hateful comments under the post on the Facebook page. Afterwards, SGA visited Communications team and jointly planned countermeasures to cope with the issue and prevent future recurrence of similar incidents.
Meanwhile, the Communications also called an emergency meeting to handle the issue as soon as the school was notified of the situation. On April 30, SGA and Communications paid a visit to the Seodaemun-gu police station with a student whose personal information was disclosed and presented a petition as a temporary measure.
Communications took various subsequent actions to settle the incident, including a legal action. On May 4, the school charged the writer of the page Kimchinyeo with defamation, demanding a severe penalty. Communications is waiting for the results after visiting the police once more and making a statement on May 18. Aside from the accusation, the school reported the posting and asked an official of Facebook Korea policy team for a prompt deletion of the posting. The school is also monitoring the media to prevent the malicious content from being spread further. Currently, an investigation is under way to verify the authenticity of the four pictures that were posted.
“The school has consistently reported hateful comments or online postings,” said Yang Ji-won, an official of Communications. “By taking strong actions against the incident, we expect the malicious postings about Ewha to be rooted out.”
The SGA is also visiting Communications continuously to convey students’ opinions. The student council has discussed the issue with a lawyer, and is seeking for various ways to practically solve the problem while collecting more data on the incident.
“The ‘Kimchinyeo Facebook incident’ is a serious, possibly even a criminal act, resulting in defamation of Ewha and infringement of personal information of some students,” SGA said. “We will continue to collect students’ opinions and carry out actions until the problem is solved.”
Many students are aware of the situation, and are supporting the school and SGA to take strong measures against the writer.
“I do not understand why the writer posted messages that belittle women in Korea in the first place, and groundlessly attack a particular school,” said Shin Sung-eun, a junior majoring in international studies. “It is a misjudgment if people think that Ewha students are used to being criticized because we experience unreasonable condemnation of the society from the moment we enter the school. We get hurt every time as before.”
Yang Hae-in
allesy94@ewhain.net