Park Ji-hyun, an Icon for Women in South Korea

Park Ji-hyun was in journalism school when the #MeToo movement led women around the world to reveal their experiences of sexual abuse. In South Korea that included raising awareness of the pervasive use of “spycams,” recording devices placed in bathrooms and locker rooms to film women without their consent. Working with a classmate and writing under the pseudonym Flame, Park infiltrated and exposed a vicious online spycam ring, which had blackmailed girls as young as 12. The police eventually arrested the ringleaders, a pair of 26-year-old men, who were sentenced to more than 30 years in prison each.

By the time she published a widely read, anonymous memoir about unmasking the spycam operators, Park was a hero to many South Korean women. After revealing her identity, she agreed to advise Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, on women’s issues. Lee lost narrowly to Yoon Suk Yeol of the People Power Party, whose campaign appealed to men angered by what they see as feminist overreach. In the aftermath, the Democratic Party named Park as its interim co-chair—an astounding achievement for an activist who’s not yet 30 years old. In line with South Korean custom for leaders of a losing faction, she stepped down in June after the Democratic Party suffered a crushing defeat in local elections. She’s currently working on her second book.