South Korean Human Rights Lawyer Calls for Transgender Military Service Regulations

Five years after the high-profile case of forcibly discharged transgender soldier Byun Hui-su, South Korea has yet to establish official rules governing the military service of transgender individuals. In an interview with News Tomato , lawyer and human rights activist Park Han-hee, the country’s first openly transgender lawyer, called on the Ministry of Defense to develop clear guidelines to protect the rights of service members, regardless of whether they are conscripted or enlisted.

According to Park Han-hee, current medical examination rules infringe on the rights of transgender people. Currently, transgender women (assigned male at birth) are required to provide proof of undergoing hormone therapy for at least 6 months to be exempted from active duty. Otherwise, they can be drafted into the army, where, as the lawyer notes, they “risk facing discrimination and human rights violations” due to the lack of protective mechanisms. Meanwhile, in many other countries, surgical or hormonal intervention is no longer mandatory for changing legal documents.

The human rights advocate insists on the need to amend military regulations. Current rules mention homosexual soldiers only in the “Incident Prevention” section, which she believes is a fundamentally flawed approach. Park suggests drawing on the experiences of countries like the US, UK, and Canada to develop an independent discrimination complaint procedure, as well as standards for housing, shower use, and medical therapy for transgender personnel. It is noted that back in 2023, the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses prepared a report showing that over a third of Korean military personnel are accepting of transgender colleagues, but the Defense Ministry has never published these findings.