内容摘要：CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg, Veronica Stracqualursi, Annie Grayer and Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.

CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg, Veronica Stracqualursi, Annie Grayer and Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.

The issue of gender inequality has become a lightning rod in the country. South Korea has the worst gender pay gap in the OECD, with women earning about two-thirds of the income of men.Efforts to redress such inequalities have triggered a backlash among young men, amid perceptions of reverse discrimination, including disgruntlement at the compulsory military service that is not required for women, some experts say.

Former leader Yoon tapped into anti-feminist sentiment by vowing to abolish the gender equality ministry and courted young male voters in the last election in 2022, losing a majority of young women's votes to Lee. The ministry has outlived Yoon, though without a minister."I was baffled by the promise to abolish the gender equality ministry. To be honest, I didn't really think that women were on their minds for the past three years," she said after voting for Lee for the second time.Lee has vowed to expand the role of the gender equality ministry and strengthen punishment for violence against women.

"Young people were driven to extreme competition to the point of fighting between men and women," Lee said as he was sworn in as president on Wednesday, blaming a lack of opportunities and stiff competition for driving a wedge between the genders.However, Lee has not been a vocal supporter of anti-discrimination legislation and when the Democratic Party first revealed his policies, a lack of gender issues drew criticism.

The Korea Women’s Political Network, an activist group, contended that Lee was ignoring gender equality out of fear it would hurt him at the polls, and after his victory, urged him to adopt some of Kwon's commitments.

Kwon Seo-hyun, an 18-year-old freshman at Sookmyung Women’s University said she took part in anti-Yoon protests following his martial law, but voted for Kwon Young-kook, the minor Democratic Labor Party's candidate.After not making it to the finale on

went home and developed a new danger act, so they could return to thestage just in time for the show’s landmark 20th season with its new composite of judges:

Their initial Messoudi Brothers act was a balancing act, not knives, and this time around only two of the three brothers competed --“There are still three of us,” Soffien explained, “We left our brother at home. He decided to sit this one out because he has two children at home and he does some time off every now and then. We still work together but we are trying something new that’s quite a lot more dangerous than what we did last time.”