The party was founded last month on International Women's Day on the back of a surge of anger over the country's spycam porn epidemic and other crimes.
South Korea is regularly ranked lowest in the developed world for gender equality, but for the first time a feminist party is seeking parliamentary seats at Wednesday's election, accusing the political establishment of having failed women.
The party has about 10,000 members -- around three-quarters of them in their 20s -- and Kim says she will never marry nor have children in her efforts to fight patriarchy. And single-issue parties have long struggled."For many women, it's hard to support a party only because it deals with women's issues," acknowledged Kwon Soo-hyun, president of Korea Women's Political Solidarity, a rights organisation.
Similarly in politics, women make up just 17 percent of assembly seats in the outgoing parliament -- 125th in a global ranking maintained by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, just behind North Korea in 120th place. In 2019, a provincial governor from the Democratic party who used to proclaim himself a feminist was convicted and jailed for raping a female aide.Young South Korean women have enjoyed unprecedented campaigning successes outside parliament in recent years -- fighting to legalise abortion and organising a widespread #MeToo and anti-spycam movement that led to the largest women's rights demonstrations in Korean history.
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