The New York Times has an interesting look at the effects of sexist language North Korea is using against South Korea's first female president, Park Geun-hye, whose "venomous swish of skirt" North Korea recently called out as partly responsible for rising tensions between the countries:

The North Koreans, masters of outrageous propaganda, no doubt picked their phrase carefully for the South’s first female president. “Swish of skirt” was long an insult in Korean culture, directed at women deemed too aggressive, far from the traditional ideal of docile and coy.

“North Korea is taunting and testing her,” said Choi Jin, head of the Institute of Presidential Leadership in Seoul. “It’s an important test for her at home, too. People supported her for being a strong leader, but they also have a lingering doubt about whether their first female president will be as good in national security as she sounds.”

The sexist barb is one small piece of the early challenge the North has posed for Ms. Park, who came into office just after Pyongyang detonated its third nuclear test and has spent her first three weeks in office managing increasingly fraught relations between the two countries.

Does her gender matter to leaders in North Korea? To citizens in the South? Experts in the article disagree.