Several incidents of male university students posting videos of themselves running after female students at night – presented as a supposedly comedic attempt to help them get home safely – have sparked public outrage in South Korea, with critics arguing that they trivialise women’s fear of being followed by strangers.
The Instagram account for a student group under Korea University’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering last week posted a 10-second video of a man chasing after a woman down an empty street at night, according to The Korea Times.
The video, titled “Choosing a random woman and helping her get home safely”, shows the woman running away in apparent fear, without looking back.
Originally posted to promote the student group’s midterm snack giveaway event, the video sparked online backlash.
Netizens criticised the video as a mockery of the fear and panic that women felt when approached or followed by unknown men at night, especially as this was not the first time that such videos had gone viral in South Korea.
Students from Chungbuk National University and Hanbat National University also posted videos with similar captions last week, where two to three male students were depicted chasing a female student down an empty street at night.
