SEOUL, South Korea – A transgender woman who was suspended by the South Korean military last year after her gender reassignment operation was found dead in her home south of Seoul, police said on Thursday.
Authorities said they were investigating the cause of death of the woman, Byeon Hee-su, 23, whose body was found in an emergency at her home in Cheongju city on Wednesday. They were notified after a local mental health center that accompanied her reported that it could not make contact with her.
Me. Byeon, who was a staff sergeant in an army tank unit, was discharged from the military in January 2020 after her operation. She wanted to continue her service in the army, but a military panel declared her unfit to serve. She became the first soldier in South Korea to be referred to such a panel because she had undergone gender reassignment surgery.
Since her dismissal, Ms. Byeon strives to be reinstated, arguing that there is no reason why she can not fulfill her duties.
“I want to show that I can be an excellent soldier who can help defend this country regardless of my sexual identity,” she said. Byeon said tearfully at a news conference after her dismissal. “Please give me the chance.”
The case of me. Byeon has exposed the fate that lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people in South Korea’s socially conservative society, especially in its military, often experience. Gay and other soldiers have long complained about discrimination and abuse. Gay men and lesbians are not barred from duty, but are being investigated by military officials. However, transgender people were forbidden to join the armed forces because they were classified by the military as mental and physical “disturbances”.
In a ruling last year, a district court found Ms. Byeon is formally recognized as a woman. After the military rejected her initial request to reinstate, Ms. Byeon sued the military, arguing that her dismissal was illegal. The first trial in the case would take place in a military court next month.
The army expresses its condolences on her death, but declined to comment further.
Ms Byeon’s death caused a landslide social media of transgender people, who thanked her for advocating for transgender rights in light of the social stigma.
“I’m sorry we did not protect the life you so desperately wanted to protect,” said Jang Hye-young, a lawmaker affiliated with the Justice Party. said in a post on Twitter.
Efforts to pass a comprehensive anti-discrimination law to promote the rights of women and sexual and other minorities have been stimulated in parliament for years because powerful conservative Christian churches have opposed it, calling the behavior of LGBT people sinful.
Me. Byeon joined the military in 2017. She underwent her surgery in Thailand while on leave. She then got into trouble when a South Korean military hospital, where she checked in after an operation, said she was disabled and could be discharged from the army due to the loss of male genitals from the operation.
South Korea, which is technically in a war with North Korea across one of the world’s strongest fortified borders, requires all physical men to serve in its military for about 20 months. Women are exempt from military service but may choose to join.
Before her death, me. Byeon found great international support for her cause.
UN human rights officials said in a letter to the South Korean government in July last year that her dismissal would “violate the right to work and the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of gender identity under international human rights law.”
The South Korean government defends the military’s decision, saying the country, in order to enable transgender people to serve in the military, should consider how it will affect the troops’ readiness to fight North Korea. It is also said that the country had to weigh the “impact on staff morale”
In December, the National Human Rights Commission of South Korea unfairly called the army’s decision and recommended that it Byeon reset.
Lim Tae-hoon, director of the Military Human Rights Center of Korea, who assisted Ms Byeon, said after her death: ‘We pray that Staff Sergeant Byeon Hee-su, a tank manager, will live with like-minded people in the next world. where there is no discrimination and hatred. ”