Fashion Rules: South Korean Lawmaker Wears Short Dress to National Assembly, Meets Severe Backlash

South Korean lawmaker Ryu Ho-jeong, has been facing a major backlash since Tuesday, after she was photographed wearing a short colourful dress during a Tuesday plenary parliamentary session, according to the country's Yonhap News Agency.

The photos of Ryu, a 28-year-old representative of the progressive Justice Party, started circulating online, drawing public attention and strong criticisms regarding her choice of outfit from South Korean social media users. One member of a Facebook national pro-Democratic party group was even quoted as saying that the woman was dressed as if she "came to the main assembly hall to collect payments for alcohol”.

​Some parliamentarians, however, Rushed to defend Ryu, the youngest member of the assembly, including Democratic Party lawmaker Ko Min-jung, who thanked her for “shattering the excessive rigorism and authoritarian atmosphere at the National Assembly” with her dress.

The Justice Party also expressed strong regrets over the “sexually discriminatory prejudices” expressed in the dress-bashing comments.

Rye herself told Yonhap News Agency over the phone that her fashion choice was dictated by a wish to break with the traditional male dominance culture characterised by the Assembly's suit-and-tie dress code.

“The authority of the National Assembly is not built upon those suits,” the lawmaker continued, promising that she would continue to opt out for different outfits in the future.

The online debate over Ryu’s fashion choice still continues, with some social media users pointing not only to the “disgusting online misogynist comments” the woman has faced in the last couple of days, but also to South Korean outlets that quoted some of these remarks in their headlines, including those referring to the lawmaker as a “prostitute” or “a sex club madam”. The English-speaking Twitter audience rushed to slam the name-calling comments, while joking about some “clashes” in Ryu’s fashion choice.

Following April's parliamentary elections in South Korea, that took place despite the coronavirus pandemic, women have now acquired 57 of the assembly’s 300 seat – a 2% increase from the previous 17% record proportion of women in the legislature. The new 21st National Assembly is also notable for the inauguration of its first-ever female vice speaker: Rep. Kim Sang-hee of the Democratic Party.