Gangnam subway entrance covered in post-its after woman murdered by misogynist

18/05/2016

Gangnam subway entrance no. 10 in Seocho has been covered in post-it notes and flowers after a 23-year-old woman was allegedly murdered by a stranger who admitted after his arrest that he hated women for ignoring him.

The suspect is thought to have been in a unisex bathroom upstairs from the noraebang where the victim was hanging out with her friends waiting for a woman to come along. The woman entered the bathroom at around 1am and her body was later found by her boyfriend with several stab wounds on the left side of her chest.

A 34-year-old man called Kim was arrested by police as he turned up for work wearing the same clothes he was seen in on the building’s CCTV footage. He was also found to be in possession of a 13 inch knife.

There’s been very little coverage of this story in English so far but it has caused a massive uproar in Korea particularly among young women many of whom feel it shows the discrimination and violence women face.

Of course, on mainstream websites like Naver, the overwhelming public reaction to the crime has been disgust, upset and anger but there have also been a small minority of commenters on websites like Ilbe and on Twitter saying highly offensive things and blaming the woman for her own death.

But on Twitter, the majority weren’t having it. One user who posted a long string of ranting tweets about how all “bitches” who routinely avoid men’s gaze should die eventually apologised and deleted all his tweets after a fierce backlash and thousands of retweets.

인간이란 뭘까… pic.twitter.com/oMJdWbSjv4

— 인시 (@WakuYaku) May 18, 2016

Other comments left on Twitter and Facebook blaming the woman for being out late and drunk were widely circulated on Twitter while many people criticised the Korean media for emphasising that aspect of the case and framing the murder as a one-off freak incident. Both on Twitter and in the messages at the station entrance, thousands of people have been sharing their condolences as well calling this a hate crime against women. At several points throughout the day, almost all the trending topics in Korea related to the crime.

#GangnamMurder

#ISurvived

#BathroomMan

#BathroomMurderer

#ThoseTimesWhenISaid

RIP

#GangnamStationMurder

Because she was a woman

Sexism

Self-defence

Many of the notes left at the station were women sharing their personal experiences of times they feared they could be victims of violence.

Murder of girl in her 20s sparks commemoration in Gangnam to stop violence against women: “We all could be victims” pic.twitter.com/6p1jDkN2ue — Joseph Kim (@josungkim) May 18, 2016

“Women shouldn’t have to live in fear. End violence against women” #강남역10번출구 #EndViolenceAgainstWomen pic.twitter.com/7wkZqvC42J

— 3분 33초 (@earthangeljimin) May 18, 2016

One tweet which was particularly popular highlighted the high percentage of female murder victims with the caption “17/5 1am Because you are a man you lived, Because I am a woman #ISurvived”