Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Korea to start study on accepting transgender soldiers
Citizens mourn in front of a photo wall of the late former staff sergeant Byun Hee-soo, who was forcibly discharged from the Army after receiving a gender-reassignment operation, in front of the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Thursday, after a local court ruled the discharge should be cancelled. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The military plans to begin a comprehensive policy review and study about the issue of whether to allow transgender people to serve in the armed forces.
The move comes after a local court ruled posthumously in favor of deceased Staff Sergeant Byun Hee-soo who was forcibly discharged after undergoing gender-reassignment surgery ― a decision which rights groups say will set milestone on the protection of sexual minorities' rights in the military.
The Ministry of National Defense said, Friday, it will launch a study this year regarding whether ― and how ― to change the regulations to accept transgender service members.
Earlier in March, after Byun killed herself, Defense Minister Seo Wook told a National Assembly National Defense Committee meeting that the ministry hadn't conducted research on transgender people's military service or a policy review to support soldiers who underwent gender-reassignment surgery, adding he believed that such a study should be carried out.
On Thursday, the Daejeon District Court ruled in favor of Byun who had filed a suit to reverse the Army's decision to discharge her. Byun, who underwent male-to-female sex-reassignment surgery during her leave in November 2019, was discharged in January 2020, because the Army classified her loss of male genitalia as a physical and mental disability under the Military Law.
She filed the suit but then committed suicide in March this year, however, her bereaved family continued with the legal action.
The court said the military had to consider Byun as a woman when reviewing whether she could perform her duty because her gender had already been legally changed to female following the surgery, and thus the loss of male genitalia was not a valid reason for her discharge.
Civic groups that advocated for Byun welcomed the ruling, as they had claimed that the relationship between having gender-reassignment surgery and the health status required for military service was unclear.
In December, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea also recommended the Army reverse its decision to discharge Byun as it infringed on her human rights. “The Army arbitrarily interpreted the person who received gender-reassignment surgery as a person with a mental and physical disability with no clear legal basis,” the commission said at the time.
It also said there was no reason to believe that Byun's health was “unsuitable for active duty service.”
The Daejeon court also said in its ruling that whether a male service member who changes sex to female would be fit for military duty as a female member should be decided through legislation and state policy by considering various factors, such as the nation's defense situation, sexual minorities' human rights and public opinion.
Civic groups argue that the Army should not appeal the ruling. However, the Army, which had insisted that the discharge was a legitimate administrative measure, has not decided on this.
About 20 countries, including some in Europe, Australia and Israel, legally allow transgender people to serve in the military.
Immediately after taking office in January, U.S. President Joe Biden allowed transgender people to serve in the military, which was banned by the former Donald Trump administration.
Some noted that given the U.S. is Korea's main ally and service members of the two countries participate in joint drills, it could be problematic if the Korean Army regards transgender soldiers as physical and mentally unhealthy.