Gender Conflict Deepens As Parties Remain Silent

Cho Kuk, head of the Innovation Policy Institute at the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, sparked controversy when he abruptly advanced a theory of a “far-right turn among men in their 20s and 30s” immediately after receiving a Liberation Day pardon. He said, “Men in their 20s and 30s are showing so-called far-right tendencies,” adding that “some of them have been influenced by the People Power Party, a far-right party.” Critics asked whether he was blaming criticism over his children’s college admissions scandal on a supposed radicalization of young men.

He also said, “I believe they are suffering and dissatisfied over jobs, college tuition, hiring prospects, and housing, and it is the duty of politicians to address those issues.” Though the remarks were contentious, they had the effect of returning the issues facing people in their 20s and 30s, topics largely absent in the last presidential race, to the public agenda.

What stands out is that both the Democratic Party and the People Power Party have stayed silent on the matter. The leadership of the two major parties has issued no official statements. The only comments came from Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Deuk-gu, who said, “I worry about how deeply young people in their 20s and 30s may have been hurt,” and lawmaker Park Sang-hyuk, who said, “I trust in the soundness of the younger generation.”

Gender conflict among people in their 20s and 30s has intensified for more than a decade, while politics has either exploited it or left it to fester. Online communities are awash in hostile rhetoric exchanged between young men and women. Some young men even interpret the rise last year to 1,176 marriages between Korean men and Japanese women, a 40 percent increase from the year before, as evidence that worsening gender conflict is driving more cross-border marriages.

However, the two major parties avoided addressing gender conflict issues even during the last presidential election. The Democratic Party’s support base is largely women in their 20s and 30s, while the People Power Party relies on men in the same age group, leading both parties to maintain the status quo. Lacking confidence in resolving the deeply entrenched gender conflicts, they may have concluded that it was safer not to touch the issue at all.

In the last presidential election, only about one in four men in their 20s supported President Lee Jae-myung. According to exit polls by the three major broadcasters, just 24 percent of men in their 20s backed him, down 12.3 percentage points from the 2022 election. Support among men in their 30s also fell to 34.5 percent, a drop of 4.7 percentage points.

Nor did women in their 20s and 30s overwhelmingly support President Lee. Support was 58.1 percent among women in their 20s and 57.3 percent among those in their 30s—just over half. Those figures are higher than the 50 percent support among women in their 60s, who tend to favor the People Power Party, but more than 10 percentage points lower than the roughly 70 percent support among women in their 40s and 50s, who lean toward the Democratic Party. Rather than giving young voters a sense of political efficacy, both parties are dividing them along gender lines.

If the political class keeps leaving young people’s gender conflict unattended, it will ultimately hurt social cohesion and national productivity. Politicians should stop labeling or excluding one gender and approach the issue with understanding and inclusiveness.

In particular, the two major parties need to reflect on their “hostile symbiosis” of dividing the 2030 generation and explore ways to expand support across the entire age group. Alongside the government, they should propose policies encompassing jobs, housing, education, and childcare for all young people, addressing their real-life concerns. With the upcoming launch of the interparty consultative body, the political sector as a whole should present measures on youth employment and other issues to regain the trust of the younger generation.