South Korea Cancels Plans to Update Definition of Rape

Click to expand Image Union members at an International Women’s Day event in Seoul, South Korea, March 8, 2018. © 2018 Seung-il Ryu/NurPhoto via Getty Images Last week South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced plans to revise its legal definition of rape to include nonconsensual sex. But within hours, South Korea’s Justice Department rejected the plan. Consent should be at the heart of any legal definition of rape. Article 297 of South Korea’s penal code defines rape as intercourse by means of “violence or intimidation.” Korean legal scholars and lawyers have noted that…

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