Gender Equality Ministry expected to get a boost under President Lee

Once facing abolition, ministry for women, family, and diversity sees renewed prospects under Lee Jae-myung

President Lee Jae-myung enters the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

President Lee Jae-myung's election win is presumed to positively affect the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which had been a target of the previous administration for restructuring and even abolishment.

On May 28, Lee vowed an overhaul of the Gender Equality Ministry, emphasizing expansion of the government branch, but has yet to announce an official plan for the ministry's future.

"Gender Equality is the core value toward achieving a sustainable society based on cohesion and tolerance," he wrote on his Facebook page.

"The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will be a control tower toward amending the inequality (in society), and promoting equal rights and opportunities for everyone," Lee continued, vowing to consider the gender and age ratio when forming his Cabinet.

Lee's blueprint for the ministry is widely interpreted as having it play a more prominent role in the state policies on gender equality.

His conservative rivals had leaned toward reducing the role of the ministry.

Kim Moon-soo, a runner-up in the presidential election from the People Power Party, had pledged to create a ministry specializing in population, youth and family policies. While he stated that his stance is not to get rid of the Gender Equality Ministry, the creation of a new government branch would have separated the family-related policies from the ministry.

Lee Jun-seok of the minor New Reform Party said he would abolish the Gender Equality Ministry and split its functions among existing branches of the government.

Former administration's attempt to terminate Gender Equality Ministry

Lee's predecessor, impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, had pledged to abolish the ministry during his presidential campaign in 2022. His administration made proposals to get rid of the ministry and allocate its functions to other branches, but they ultimately failed due to fierce opposition from the civic groups and Lee's Democratic Party of Korea.

Yoon's notorious claim that "there is no more gender discrimination on a structural level" in 2022 was subject to criticism, particularly from the liberal bloc.

The gender equality minister post has been left vacant since February of 2024, when then-minister Kim Hyun-sook handed in her resignation. Yoon's presidential office said that leaving the post vacant expressed his strong will to carry out his pledge.

Kim stated that "abolishment (of the ministry) is obvious" when she took office in May of 2022, openly welcoming Yoon’s plan from her nomination to appointment.

In addition to the public backlash, the controversial move to abolish the Gender Equality Ministry had touched off criticism from the international community.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in June of 2024 recommended that the Yoon administration rescind its plan to abolish the ministry; it urged appointing a minister without further delay.