“We heard whispers through pharmacy delivery workers and convenience store clerks,” says Min Ji-yeon, a social worker in Incheon. “Women would order the smallest item—a band-aid, a single banana—just to whisper to the delivery man: ‘Call the police. Don’t ring the bell.’ The lockdown didn’t save them. It hid them.” Let us deconstruct the degrading term in the original keyword: "Babe." In the context of Korean internet culture (Ilbe, DC Inside, or international forums), this term reduces a woman to an object of gaze. But the woman in our first case—let’s call her Soo-jin—was a 29-year-old graphic designer living in a semi-basement (banjiha) in Seoul’s Gwanak-gu.
The lockdown saved the world from a virus. But it failed to save them from us. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence in South Korea, call the Korea Women’s Hotline at 1366 (24 hours). For international readers, contact your local crisis center. Support does not require leaving your home—just the silence. Corona Lock Down Won-t Save This Korean Babe Fr...
When the lockdown shut down entertainment venues, Hyun-ah didn’t get a government relief check that covered her rent. The “Corona relief fund” (긴급재난지원금) of 400,000 KRW (approx. $300 USD) lasted exactly one week of groceries and her daughter’s asthma medication. “We heard whispers through pharmacy delivery workers and