For many South Koreans, the mandatory 21-month military service required of all men is an onerous obligation born of the country's precarious reality of abutting North Korea and its million-man army. Many try to postpone their service, apply for plum assignments or avoid it altogether.
Not Byun Hui-su. Byun sought out a specialized, far-from-home high school for future military officers, and in March 2017 joined the ranks of South Korea's army as an officer.
On Wednesday, that army decided Byun could no longer serve in South Korea's military due to "mental and physical disability." Byun, a 21-year-old staff sergeant, recently underwent gender reassignment surgery to become female.
The army's swift decision to boot the transgender soldier from its ranks comes despite protests from advocates and a national human rights commission recommendation that the case be postponed, and has ignited fierce debate in a country that remains largely socially conservative and where military service is a perennial point of contention in gender issues.
Byun's unprecedented case thrusts South Korea into the forefront of an issue that has been controversial in the U.S. and other countries around the world. President Donald Trump, via a 2017 tweet, abruptly reversed an Obama administration decision to begin allowing transgender individuals to enlist and serve openly, a move that's being challenged in the courts.
Byun and her attorneys said they would be filing appeals to the human rights commission and pursuing legal action to allow her to continue to serve.
"I'm going to fight to the end, until the day I return to the army," a tearful Byun said during a news conference in Seoul on Wednesday afternoon. She said her unit and superiors were aware and supportive of her decision to proceed with the surgery, and had knowingly signed off on her travel to Thailand for the procedure.
South Korean authorities said that while the military has no specific regulations banning transgender service members or concerning a soldier's transition, it considers the removal of genitals a disability necessitating the discharge decision. South Korea's military similarly does not preclude gay individuals from serving, but has been accused of rooting them out under a law banning sodomy, in some cases for consensual sex that took place off-duty and off-base.
Four soldiers are challenging their discipline and prosecution under the law before South Korea's supreme court, alleging discrimination.
Amnesty International has said the sodomy law "institutionalizes discrimination, reinforces systematic disadvantages for gay, bisexual and transgender people and risks inciting or justifying violence against them inside the military and in the broader society." Several transgender women have also been prosecuted for evading military service, accused of using their gender identity as an excuse.
A transgender woman who served in the military from 2007 to 2009 told Amnesty that she suffered abuse and harassment from peers and superiors for not fitting in _ but nonetheless served out her time.
"I am more than qualified and effectively completed my duty," Edhi Park said, according to a 2019 report.
Byun said part of her interest in the military came from wanting to suppress the femininity she sensed in herself, but also a strong wish to serve her country. She said she initially planned on completing her time in the military as a man, putting off transitioning, but suffered from deepening depression due to gender dysphoria.
She said that after receiving counseling and mental health treatment through the military, she began receiving hormonal therapy last spring. In August, she came out to superiors in her unit, realizing she needed to be honest with herself and those around her to be a good soldier, she said.
It was after deciding to be forthcoming about her gender identity that she began excelling at her role as a tank operator, receiving high marks and earning awards, she said.
Byun said that with the blessing of her superiors, she traveled to Thailand in December for gender reassignment surgery.
On Tuesday, on the eve of the army's review of Byun's case, a coalition of anti-LGBT groups that included Christian organizations held a rally outside the South Korean Ministry of Defense, urging Byun's immediate dismissal. Protesters said a transgender soldier would hurt the military's discipline.
The army's review board met for about an hour to hear from Byun and her attorney before reaching the decision to order her discharge, according to the Center for Military Human Rights, which has been advocating on her behalf.
Byun noted that South Korea's military was changing in many other ways _ allowing soldiers to have smartphones and phasing out certain types of punishments _ and that she believed its treatment of LGBT individuals could also evolve. She said she wanted the opportunity to serve her country on the front lines, at the border with North Korea.
"I'm hoping all sexual minorities in the changing military, including myself, can carry out our duty and vocation without discrimination," she said. "I would like to be a great precedent. I'm a mere individual, but I'd like to be a part of this change."
