Sung Jae-ki

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This is a Korean name; the family name is Sung.
Sung Jae-ki
성재기 (成在基)
Born (1967-09-11)September 11, 1967
Daegu, South Korea
Died July 26, 2013(2013-07-26) (aged 45)
Mapo bridge, Seoul, South Korea
Nationality  South Korea
Other names Sung Jae-gi
Occupation masculism activist and anti-feminist
Spouse(s) Park Eun-gyong
Sung Jae-ki
Hangul 성재기
Hanja 成在基
Revised Romanization Sung Jae-ki
McCune–Reischauer Sung Jae-gi

Sung Jae-Ki (Hangul: 성재기; hanja: 成在基, September 11, 1967 - July 26, 2013) was a South Korean masculism activist and anti-feminist. He was the founder of Man of Korea.

In the 21st century, Sung led the South Korean anti-feminism movement. In October 1999, he participated in the movement against abolition of giving preferential treatment to discharged soldiers at South Korea. He also opposed the abolition of the Hoju system. In 2006, he founded the Association of Anti-Feminism for the Liberation of Men, and in 2007, he founded the Association for the Abolition of the Ministry of Women. In 2008, he founded the Man of Korea, serving as first chairman from 2008 until his death in 2013.

Near the end of his life, Sung was heavily in debt, up to $200 million by some accounts. On July 25, 2013 Sung announced his intention to commit suicide to the Man of Korea website.[1] The next day, Sung jumped off the Mapo Bridge in Seoul and died.

Life

Early life

Sung Jae-Ki was born in Daegu on September 11, 1967. He studied at Daegu High School, and in 1985 studied economics at Yeungnam University, where he graduated in 1992. He spent his early twenties working as a salesman for an insurance company. From August 26, 2000 to November 30, 2006 Sung worked with Thomas Mcfly Consulting & Headhunting Company (토마스 맥플라이 컨설팅 & 헤드헌팅사).

In the early 2000s, Sung joined the growing South Korean men's rights movement, campaigning for various causes. On November 26, 2006, he founded the Association of Anti-Feminism for the Liberation of Men (Korean: 반페미니즘남성해방연대) and on January 4, 2007, he founded the Association for the Abolition of the Ministry of Women (Korean: 여성부폐지운동본부, 女性部廢止運動本部). He gained some fame for his appeals to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections, questioning the reason for the ministry's existence.[2]

Positions

Sung advocated abolishing the Korean Army bonus points system (군 가산점),[3] military veterans' compensation, and the female quota for the South Korean military (여성 할당제). From 2004 to January 2005, he opposed the abolition of the Hoju system (호주제 戶主制), but was unsuccessful.

Sung rallied against what he saw as female chauvinism and Korean totalitarianism. He argued against reverse discrimination, stated "Men is a humans", objected to unilateral obligations and responsibilities imposed on Korean men, and pushed for Men's liberation.

Sung argued that strict attention fostered a sturdy society. He once said:
The oppressive measures on pornography by the Korean government are totally insane...It is actually seen that it oppresses masculinity and that it distorts the essentials. It is all done by the Ministry of Gender Equality and women’s organizations led by Korean feminists."[4]
Sung argued that a few female chauvinists and their totalitarianism had excessively suppressed male sexuality, the arts, pop culture, freedom of expression, and freedom of thought. Comparing the South Korean government's policies to US Prohibition, Sung said that restricting pornography was bound to lead to undesirable side effects, as well as effectively labeling normal men as sex criminals. He encouraged self-examination to overcome Puritanism. Sung stated:
You will understand easily if you know a bit about men’s sexual mechanism. Pornography itself can ease and satisfy men’s sexual impulses.[4]

Men's rights movements

White Stockings Campaign

Sung mocked the "White Tie Campaign" organized by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, alleging that the campaign supported prostitution (although he was said to have unconditionally supported prostitution.[citation needed] From November 28–29, 2011, Man of Korea launched their “White Stockings Campaign”, by sending its members an email introducing the movement.

The email said the campaign was supported by the ministry.[5] In reality, the White Stockings Campaign was aimed at lampooning the ministry’s support program for former prostitutes. Man of Korea claimed that under the ministry’s plan, if a female prostitute decided to quit her job and receive job training through support centers, the ministry would provide her with 410,000 won per month for up to three years, along with legal and medical services.[5] Sung was criticized for supporting voluntary prostitution too. On November 30 Sung said:
We wanted to show that the ministry’s support program for former prostitutes is not effective. The ministry spends about 11-12 billion won per year on the program. But such support is given to any women who claim they were prostitutes, and the ministry is unable to verify whether they were really engaged in the sex trade or not.

Man of Korea

Main articles: Man of Korea and Masculism

On January 26, 2008, Sung founded Man of Korea (Korean: 남성연대, 男性聯帶)[6] From 2008 to 2013, Sung worked with this group to promote men's rights, saying that men could also be a minority in South Korean society. He made public, disparaging remarks toward women and worked to discontinue menstrual leave and other benefits for working women.[7] Many argued that Sung's work to support the rights of men was misplaced, given that South Korea is an already male-dominant society.[7]

During the 2012 Korean presidential election Sung suggested aboloshing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.[citation needed] Sung argued, “You say women are the social minority? All of that is delusional”, adding that Korean society’s excessive consideration toward women created reverse discrimination against men.[8] On his Twitter account Sung posted the following:
Korean women, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Why are you making such a fuss about menstruating when the nation’s birthrate is the lowest in the world?[8]
Some of Sung's male Twitter followers supported his view on the issue while his choice of words infuriated women across the nation.[8]

Death

On July 25, 2013, Sung declared himself a victim of reverse discrimination and stated his intention to commit suicide. He jumped off the Mapo Bridge into the Han River after writing a controversial note, saying that he would risk his life to earn 100 million won (about $94,000) in donations to pay off debts owed by Man of Korea.[9] Before he jumped off the bridge, he tweeted, "I'm confident that I can survive." He also checked the depth of the water before he jumped off and arranged a safety guard to watch his jump. However, he seemed to have recognized the risk of death because he also said, "If something goes wrong with me, the Secretary General will succeed me as the representative of the association. Please remember me even if my lame attempt fails."[1]

On July 26, 2013, Sung jumped off the Mapo Bridge in an attempt to draw attention to gender inequality against men and accrue needed funds for Man of Korea.[10] Just before jumping, his shouted "Mens are also people! (남자도 사람이다.)".

Although rescue work began almost immediately after his jump, and a widespread search of the Han River was conducted, his body was not found until July 29, 2013.[10]

Legacy

On August 1, 2013, three days after the body was found near the Seogang Bridge, his body was cremated and buried in the Gyongsan Gongwonmyowon crypt in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang. He was 46.

Controversy

On July 24, Sung posted on his organisation's website and tweeted the following message: "Tomorrow I will jump from the Han River". He went on to list his successor for Man of Korea in case he didn't survive.[11] His Twitter account also sent out a photo with the words: "I know this act is shameful. I'm sorry. I'll reflect on this for the rest of my life". The photo was later deleted, but screenshots were widely circulated.[11]

The publicity surrounding Sung's suicide has been controversial, due to stance his organizations took on men's rights and gender equality. It was reported that Sung planned the jump in advance as a media stunt to spread awareness about and raise funds for the Man of Korea.[11] Another person tweeted a close-up photo of a KBS camera and wrote: "It's true then that KBS was the one who filmed Sung Jae-ki's jump. While it seems KBS' behaviour and press ethics will be considerably debated, what about the issue of the president stepping down".[11]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Suicide performance and journalist ethics News Dongah
  2. ↑ TVN ‘쿨까당’으로 본 여성가족부 존치 논란 NSP통신 (Korean)
  3. ↑ 성재기, 강용석 NLL 발언에 "욕 좀 하겠다" Newsone, July 5, 2013
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 [Voice] Should pornography be censored? Koreaharald 2012.12.17
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Anti-sex buying campaign causes stir Korea times 2011.12.30
  6. ↑ 디도스 공격 10대 알고 보니 남성연대 前 회원 주간동아(Korean)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Controversial activist says will jump off bridge for cash The Korea Herald 2013.07.25
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Menstrual leave ― an entitlement men reject Koreatimes 2012.10.30
  9. ↑ Han River rescue team struggles with increased suicide attempts The Hangyorye 2013.08.11
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Sung jae gi threw himself to Han river and missing". MBC. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.  (Korean)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 South Korean channel films suicide

Sources

External links

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