My dissertation project examines how law and medicine shape the victimhood of vulnerability and autonomy, critically reinterpreting and integrating debates about female sexuality and vulnerability in the context of South Korean response to sexual violence. While the import and development of Western medical institutions and knowledge has aided victims, it may obscure legal and cultural deflection. How are victims affected when the increased use of “universal” medicine meets a coercive legal model and cultural understanding of rape in South Korea? My research focuses on the question by drawing on archival works on court decisions, participant observation at courts and sexual violence victim support centers, and interviews with medical experts and activists. Two papers from the research are currently under review: one on the coercion-based and consent-based legal models, and the other on the medical injury of rape victims in court decisions.

My article “Peaceful or Disciplined? Perceived efficiency and legitimacy of nonviolent protest by novices and repeaters in South Korean candlelight protests” based on survey and interview data, is forthcoming in Contention in 2022. I received a BA and an MA in sociology from Seoul National University and an MA in sociology from UC Berkeley.