Women’s groups advocate for stronger protections as they commemorate 10 years since Gangnam Station murder

Women’s rights groups gathered near southern Seoul’s Gangnam Station on Sunday to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2016 murder of a woman in a public restroom near the station, calling for stronger measures to eradicate violence against women.

The memorial rally took place at 2 p.m. in front of Exit 10 of Gangnam Station. About 500 people attended the event, according to police and organizers. The rally was jointly organized by 157 women’s and civic groups.

The gathering commemorated the murder of the woman by a man surnamed Kim in a public restroom inside a commercial building in Seocho District, southern Seoul, in the early hours of May 17, 2016.

Before the attack, the assailant had allowed six men who entered the restroom to leave unharmed before targeting the female victim who entered afterward.

Police concluded the case was a crime driven by mental illness, but women’s groups believe it was a crime driven by misogyny and have held annual memorial events.

Participants dressed in black and purple held signs reading “Take action beyond remembering the 10th anniversary of the Gangnam Station murder” and “Stop violence against women.” They also chanted slogans such as “We will never forget [the murder occurred near] Gangnam Station” and “Those of us who survived will change the world.”

Organizers also recreated the memorial scene from 10 years ago by affixing commemorative Post-it notes on a booth next to a wall near Exit 10 of Gangnam Station. Just after the murder in 2016, people gathered around the station and covered the area with Post-it notes mourning the female victim.

Passerby also attached handwritten messages to the wall, many of which read, “May the victim rest in peace.” Another note said, “The recent murder of a woman in Gwangju reminded me of you,” referring to the incident in Gwangju on May 5, where a 17-year-old female high school student was allegedly fatally stabbed by a man, named Jang Yun-gi, whom she had never met.

“Gangnam Station is not simply the site of a crime, but a space where women came to recognize the reality of violence against women in a discriminatory society and take action together to change the world,” said Park Ji-a on stage. She is the head of the gender equality education center at the Seoul Women’s Association and co-representative of the Feminist Solidarity to End Gender Violence.

“Over the past 10 years, sites of violence against women have continued to emerge in places including Sindang Station, Inha University, Jinju and Busan, while women have continued to fight stalking, dating violence and digital sex crimes,” Park said.

“We will not stop until violence against women and gender-based violence are recognized as structural social problems and the state establishes responsible countermeasures,” Park added.

Participants also expressed anger that violence targeting women continues even a decade after the Gangnam Station murder.

“I supported countless women over six years before leaving my job last year, but I feel heartbroken and angry that murders targeting women have continued this year in places like Namyangju and Gwangju,” said Chae In-seon, a former counselor at the women’s emergency hotline 1366, referring to a case in which a man, Kim Hoon, allegedly broke the windows of a car his former live-in partner was riding in, killed her, and fled in his own car on March 14 in Namyangju, Gyeonggi.

Choi Kyeong-sook, who worked alongside Chae, said, “If the woman killed 10 years ago were still alive, she would now be an ordinary woman in her 30s walking these streets.”

Choi continued, “I joined the rally because I want to create a world where women do not have to live with the fear that they themselves could become targets.”

Kim So-min, a member of the civic group Namtaeryeong Asphalt Solidarity (translated), attended the rally carrying a handmade placard over one shoulder while chanting slogans.

“I was a high school senior when I first heard about the case, and it shocked me deeply,” Kim So-min said. “I was angry to see investigative authorities dismiss the murder as a simple killing rather than one rooted in misogyny.”

Kim So-min added that “politicians and police must acknowledge the misogyny pervasive in Korean society and establish effective measures to guarantee women’s safety.”

Participants also read aloud a joint declaration pledging never to forget the Gangnam Station case. A “die-in” performance symbolizing victims of violence against women followed, with participants lying down on the roadway as some passersby stopped to watch.

The rally concluded at around 4:40 p.m., after which participants moved together to the booth with Post-it notes and observed a moment of silence.

Meanwhile, a separate rally organized by a men’s rights civic group took place nearby around Exit 9 of Gangnam Station. About 20 participants attended the gathering, according to police, calling for an end to what they described as reverse discrimination against men.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY KIM YE-JUNG [[email protected]]