By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A discharged lieutenant colonel, Pi Woo-jin, 52, took one step closer to resuming her career as a promising helicopter pilot.
The Seoul Administrative Court ruled Friday that the female military officer who had undergone a double mastectomy because of breast cancer did not deserve to be discharged, ordering the minister of defense to reinstate the soldier.
``We will appeal to a higher court on the case,'' a ministry official told The Korea Times.
In the ruling, the judge said the lieutenant colonel has as almost same physical strength as someone not having had the surgery.
``Following the surgery, she passed a physical check-up conducted by the military. Therefore, we consider she has no difficulties in handling missions given to her,'' the ruling said.
She claimed that she had to retire last November in accordance with a military provision, regulating that any military officer who had surgery, resulting in the loss of a part of the body, had to be discharged.
She was forced to retire in November 2006 after being assessed as having a level 2 disability following the breast surgery in 2002.
The pilot in her early 50s started her military career in 1978. She became the first female helicopter pilot in 1981.