In celebration of International Women’s Day, we talk to Hawon Jung, author of “Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea’s Feminist Movement and What It Means for Women’s Rights Worldwide.”

We discuss why “feminism” is such a loaded term in South Korea, the #MeToo movement, digital sex crimes, deep-rooted patriarchal gender norms and how the women’s rights movement here connects to other movements in Asia and beyond. The book is available at all major bookstores.

Hawon is a former Agence France-Presse correspondent who is currently based in Germany as a freelance journalist. She has over a decade of experience covering the two Koreas, K-pop’s rise and the #MeToo movement, for which she was shortlisted in the 2019 awards for Editorial Excellence by the Society of Publishers in Asia. You can find her on Twitter @allyjung and at hawon-jung.com.

We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, or suggestions for other Korean books you’d like us to review or discuss. Tweet us (Beth @_paperfetishist / Naomi @ngnaomi) or leave a message on The Korea Herald’s Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram page. You can also email us at bethhong@heraldcorp.com or ngnaomi@heraldcorp.com.

📢 COVID-19 precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the production team.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/khbookspodcast

Intro: ♪ Onion (Prod. by Lukrembo)

Outro: ♪ Wine (Prod. by Lukrembo)



00:00 Introducing Hawon Jung

1:06 South Korea beyond K-pop, North Korea 🇰🇷

5:26 The meaning behind the title “Flowers of Fire” 🌹🔥

9:09 Korea’s #MeToo movement & the term “flower snake” 🌹🐍

15:23 Fighting digital sex crimes 📸🙅‍♀️

24:49 Why are some women on marriage strike? 👰🙅‍♀️

35:04 Why is “feminism” such a loaded word in Korea?

42:41 Gender conflict & Korean politics

48:29 The future of Korea’s feminist movement

51:43 Impacts of the movement in East Asia & beyond 🌏

58:59 Would you call yourself a feminist?