In a protest held outside the Jindo County Office, women's rights advocates and immigrant organizations from Gwangju and Jeollanam-do criticized Mayor Kim Hee-su for referring to women from Sri Lanka and Vietnam as targets for 'importing' in response to population decline. They characterized his statement as a serious human rights violation that treats women merely as tools for demographic policy. The organizations noted that this was not just a slip of the tongue, but a manifestation of structural discrimination against women and a reductive view of women's roles in society.

Despite the mayor and the provincial government issuing apologies and the ruling Democratic Party deciding to expel him, the groups emphasized the need to address widespread misogyny and discrimination towards immigrant women within South Korean society. They called for local governments to institutionalize training on gender equality and immigrant rights for all public officials and to implement concrete measures to eliminate discriminatory perceptions.

Furthermore, they urged both the central government and local authorities to stop treating women's reproductive choices as a means of population policy, insisting that related policies must be restructured from a gender justice perspective. The mayor’s remarks have sparked significant backlash, suggesting a critical need for deeper societal reflection on gender issues in the context of demographic challenges in South Korea.