While factional strife has often dominated debate among major parties in South Korea, the nation’s minor progressive party has recently found itself embroiled in an unusual political debate here: feminism.

Over the past couple of weeks, the Justice Party has been engulfed in a heated internal division over their official stance on a recent laborer dismissal controversy involving a radical feminism online community “Megalian.com.”

The website has gained prominence for its harsh attack against the country’s widespread misogyny, often using vulgar or degrading words which the organizers contend is a parody of misogynistic slurs made by male members on the extreme right-wing online community, Ilbe.

The controversy originally erupted when online game maker Nexon let go of its voiceover actress Kim Jae-yeon, who had caused a stir after posting a photo of herself in a feminist T-shirt sold by the Megalian, which had a print that said, “Girls do not need a prince.”

Slews of protests against the photo followed from men, who are the game maker’s major customers. The company and the actress later said the dismissal was a mutual decision.

The explanation, however, did little to calm the debate, fueled by the Justice Party, which on July 20 released a statement denouncing Nexon for violating the right to free speech by dismissing a laborer for her personal disposition.

“Individuals’ opinions should not be used as rationale for imposing restriction on their professional work,” the party’s Arts and Cultural Committee said in a statement. “We cannot help but regret the fact that there are those who are deprived of their right to work on such a wrongful ground,” the committee said.

While the statement did not support or clarify the party’s stance on the actual controversial feminist group, the release was immediately rebuked by the party’s own members, who accused the party leadership of supporting the radical group without their consensus.

The party’s website was flooded with scathing comments from some rank-and-file members who criticized the party for endorsing the extreme feminist movement. They forced the party to withdraw the statement and threatened to quit the party otherwise.

“I have never been more embarrassed with our party than I am today. I’m pretty sure most defectors think that way,” an anonymous party member left a comment on Sunday. “I thought we are aiming to build the same world, but it is not the case anymore,” it said. 

In a desperate move to calm the situation, the party’s leadership on Monday last week decided to withdraw the statement, saying that the comment had failed to deliver what it originally intended. The new statement did not specify whether the party still stood by what they view as “wrongful dismissal,” inviting further criticisms from its members.

It is not the first time that the progressive party has split over political agenda and witnessed an exodus of its party members. In 2008, the Democratic Labor Party, which was then the only progressive party, split into two progressive groups following the failed presidential election bid and controversy over their political position toward North Korea.

“It is like the 2008 division all over again. We are seeing more party members quitting than that” said the party spokesman. Though the exact number of defectors are not readily available as of Aug. 1, more than a hundred comments were inquiries about the procedure of leaving the party.

The Justice Party was established in 2012 with key members who had defected from the DLP. Many of its grassroots members are comprised of either middle-aged labor union members or tech-savvy young voters in their 20s and 30s.

Kim Min-jeon, a political science professor at Kyung Hee University, said that the unique composition of the Justice Party is the reason why the debate over feminism is more likely to occur in progressive parties than their conservative counterparts.

“The established parties mainly consist of politicians from the old generation and they are not familiar with such topics. But the younger generation cater more closely to the online community and are hence better aware of topics that make headlines there,” Kim said.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)