The Gay Rights Movement in

Democratizing Korea
Youngshik D. Bong

The transition to democracy and the experience of globalization have transformed

the ways Korea as a nation defines its national identity. Rising public attention and
acceptance of human rights issues have resulted in discernable political changes in
the areas of human rights, but sexual minorities are still left outside such positive
developments. Building on the existing scholarly literature on gay rights in Korea,
this article examines the problems of sexual minorities and their fight against them
in the military, mass media, the educational system, and the courts. It also high-
lights the key points of contention and obstacles to underpinning the current state
of sexual minorities and discusses the likely future trajectory of the gay rights move-
ment in Korean society.

Introduction

The transition to democracy and the experience of globalization since

the 1980s brought South Korea as a nation to self-appraisals and new
interpretations of the ways its national identity is defined. Korea’s self-
identification as an advanced country, a democracy, and a globalized soci-
ety has also provided general conditions instrumental for the general pub-
lic to become comfortable and sympathetic with the spirit and vocabulary
of human rights such as equality, decency and diversity. Rising public
attention and acceptance of human rights issues has resulted in discern-
able political changes in the areas of gender equality, political freedom in
Korean Studies, Volume 32. 6 2009 by University of Hawai‘i Press. All rights reserved.

86
North Korea, migrant foreign workers, overseas Koreans, and the handi-
capped, to name a few. Yet in the shadow of such welcoming develop-
ments, there is still a minority group that fails to receive comparable pub-
lic attention: sexual minorities.1
Considering that Korean individuals ‘‘coming out’’ and the issue of
homosexuality addressed as part of pop culture and lifestyle are very re-
cent phenomena in Korea, the dearth of public attention and scholarly
studies on sexual minorities’ political rights may not be so surprising.
The political visibility of the gay and lesbian population in Korea remains
minimal, as symbolized by the fact that no official or reliable statistics to
measure the actual size of their population exists. The Korean government
does not publish any official statistics regarding the size of the gay and
lesbian population that are based upon nationwide and rigorous methods.
It estimates that there are approximately 110,000 nonheterosexuals in Ko-
rean society, but that is a very rough figure, inferred from the proportion
of the homosexuals and transgenders to the total population of people in-
fected with HIV.
Sexual minorities in Korea have been an unpopular subject in aca-
demic fields, too, and have long been predominately discussed and exam-
ined as a peripheral topic. The issue of sexual minorities in Korea was in-
troduced as one of many human rights topics for intellectual and scholarly
discussions for the first time in an academic publication with the appear-
ance of Ilsang-ŭi ŏgap kwa sosuja inkwŏn ŭi ilkwŏn (Everyday Oppression
and Minority Rights), an edited volume on human rights conditions in
Korea published by the Korean Foundation of Human Rights in 2000.2
As of 2008, there had been only one book publication that focused solely
on sexual minorities: Sŏngchŏk sosuja inkwŏn (Sexual Minority Rights),
an edited volume published in 2002, examines the legal status of sexual
minorities and cases of discrimination against them.3 In 2005, the Na-
tional Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea (NHRC)
published a report titled Preliminary Study of Human Rights of Sexual
Minority that surveys cases of discrimination against sexual minorities.4
As for academic writing in English on sexual minorities, Young-gwan
Kim and Sook-ja Hahn offered historical and cultural narratives of how
Koreans think about homosexual life,5 and Dong-jin Seo explored the
multifaceted conceptualization of homosexuality in Korea by exploring
the effect of globalization as a cultural phenomenon.6
This article builds on the existing scholarly literature on gay rights in
Korea by discussing the plight of sexual minorities and their resistance in
the military, mass media, the educational system, and the courts. To com-
plement previous scholarly studies on the subject from a different perspec-

Youngshik D. Bong The Gay Rights Movement in Democratizing Korea 87

tive, it examines the key points of contention and obstacles to underpin-
ning the current state of sexual minorities and discusses the likely future
trajectory of the gay rights movement in Korean society.

Homosexuality in Korean Society

The gay rights movement owed its beginning to the new political atmo-
sphere created by the beginning of political liberalization after 1987. A
quarter century of military authoritarianism created political conditions
that were hostile and oppressive to all minorities in society, including sex-
ual minorities. Political conditions kept minority issues as minor issues.
The authoritarian regimes stifled liberal political agenda and democratic
ideals from spreading while advocating national solidarity and political
stability. It was a time when the prodemocracy movement was synony-
mous with an antigovernment movement. The main, if not the only,
goal of the movement was to oust the military dictatorship and restore
constitutional order, leaving little room for minority rights to be voiced.
But military authoritarianism was particularly inimical to sexual minor-
ities because the military regimes in Korea adopted and enforced the
neo-Confucianism of the Chosŏn dynasty, which disparages homosexual-
ity because it disrupts the kinship tradition that emphasizes gender hierar-
chy, duty, and family over personal priorities and preferences. Seungsook
Moon asserts that the Korean military government exploited and repro-
duced Confucian ideology in order to carry out military and industrial
mobilization of the populace. Such mobilization, in turn, solidified the
binary and hierarchical conceptualization of gender that regards homosex-
uality as a foreign and un-Korean value.7
The end of military authoritarian regimes in 1987 provided an open-
ing for gays and lesbians to work together to dispel hostile and debasing
labels on the gay population and to build a nascent level of solidarity
among them. Homosexual associations before the democratic opening
in the late 1980s were basically small company-based associations and
fellowship-oriented, local gatherings whose foundational goals were de-
tached from political representations. For example, in the 1970s, Yŏun-
hoe (Female Taxi Drivers’ Association) was organized among lesbian cab
drivers. The association, which tried to promote members’ financial self-
reliance and the warmth of communal ties, lasted for approximately ten
years. It appears that the members regarded their sexual identity and ori-
entation in negative terms, viewing themselves as people with the ‘‘third
sex’’ or ‘‘wrong birth.’’ It’aewŏn Community, created in 1980 and open

88 Korean Studies VOLUME 32 | 2008

to both gays and lesbians, was also basically a social circle for fellow-
ship among high-income, white-collar members. Then the surging fear
of AIDS rendered It’aewŏn Community’s expansion to actively promote
gay rights virtually impossible, and it was dissolved within a year.8
The gay rights movement in Korea as political activism began in the
1990s. At this time, most Koreans were completely unaware of the exis-
tence of gays. They remained hidden, and homosexuality went unmen-
tioned. Then Korean Americans who were studying on a few college cam-
puses in Seoul started a very low-key gay rights movement and gradually
extended their networks. In November 1991, Sappho, a fraternal society
of foreign and Korean lesbians and bisexuals, was organized. Korean
members who participated in this society, while realizing the wall of cul-
tural and linguistic differences, agreed to launch an endogenous organiza-
tion that would go beyond cultivating social fellowship among gays and
lesbians. In 1993, they created Ch’odonghoe, the first official pan-sexual
minorities association in Korea. Two months after its creation, Ch’odong-
hoe was dissolved, and gay and lesbian members created their respective
associations, the gay community Ch’in’gusai ( January 1994) and the les-
bian group Kkirikkiri (November 1994). The 1990s witnessed a surge of
networking and a proliferation of organizations among lesbians and gays
who used personal computer (PC) communication and a telephone mail-
box system (153 Mailbox). By 1995–96, gay and lesbian organizations
succeeded in forging a spirit of solidarity and action plans among their
members. The publication and circulation of Buddy and Ttodarŭn sesang
helped promote self-identity as homosexuals and a critical attitude toward
bias and discrimination in society among readers. Han’guk Tongsŏn-
gaeja Inkwŏn Undong Hyŏbŭihoe (Organization of Homosexual Human
Rights Movement Organization of Korea), an umbrella organization was
created to orchestrate the advancement and representation of respective
and common agendas for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders as un-
attended yet urgent human rights issues.9

Fighting Discrimination in the Military, Mass Media, and the Courts

In conjunction with community-building efforts, sexual minorities in Ko-

rean society waged a civic movement on two fronts. The first front was to
dispel the bias against the homosexual population as promiscuous, hedo-
nist, and AIDS-spreading aliens hiding in the dark with a campaign to
clean-up the so-called Pagoda culture.10 Distorted and perverse portrayals
and references to the gay population in mass media, textbooks, and the

Youngshik D. Bong The Gay Rights Movement in Democratizing Korea 89

government AIDS policy were the main targets of protest. At the same
time, an effort was also made to enhance the legal status of homosexuals
as citizens with inherent rights to enjoy dignity and protection of the law.
In close concert with other human rights activist groups (antiwar, envi-
ronment, women, labor, and so forth), gay rights activists presented their
cause as a legitimate human rights issue like other social issues that had to
be ultimately rectified by law. As a result, the gay rights movement began
to transform itself both as an internal community-building movement
and as an external audience-seeking campaign that purports to rectify
and enhance the collective image and legal status of sexual minorities.

Gays in the Military

The activists’ first target of protest was the systematic negligence of the
Korean military that bred and reinforced false characterization of gay
soldiers, which left them defenseless against rampant maltreatment and
violence inside barracks. Nowhere in the official language of Korea’s mil-
itary law is the word homosexuality. However, the Regulations on Physi-
cal Examinations of Recruits (Department of Defense Order No. 556)
define homosexual orientation as a form of disease and mental distur-
bance (‘‘sexual orientation disorder’’ and ‘‘sexual identity disorder’’). In
response to inquiries by gay rights organizations, the Office of Military
Manpower Administration defended this practice primarily in terms of
protecting the military’s organizational interests. It acknowledged that,
although the military relies on medical experts’ opinions for determining
the aptitude of those subject to military service who possess homosexual
orientation, it took into account the possibility that gay draftees are likely
to cause humiliation and discomfort among servicemen and undermine
morale, ‘‘because transsexuals and gays posses a very different sexual desire
from that of ordinary people.’’11
Once in the military, most gays find themselves struggling to adjust
to the masculine culture. The regulations of the Korean military assure
that psychological counseling and medical treatment are available, with
authorization from a senior officer in charge, for any serviceman under
his command who struggles to adjust to training and military life in gen-
eral. Yet, seeking assistance and guidance is extremely dangerous for gay
military personnel. Protection of privacy is frequently violated. Senior
officers, without the consent of the servicemen, would notify their parents
of their sexual orientations. Gay servicemen or draftees who actually
sought counseling testified that they were ‘‘advised’’ to be taken to mili-
tary hospitals for intensive mental care that sometimes included HIV

90 Korean Studies VOLUME 32 | 2008

tests. Some were granted discharge from military service for medical and
family reasons (ŭigasa chedae). Some were driven into harsher situations.
Discharge for medical conditions requires authorization by medical offi-
cers. As they have to submit hard evidence that the servicemen are being
discharged for legitimate medical reasons, medical officers would require
the servicemen to submit photographs or video clips showing their in-
volvement in sexual acts with another male.12
Gay rights activist organizations also complained that homosexual
members in the military were subjected to unwarranted scrutiny and sus-
picion as potential sex offenders. Article 92 of Korea’s military criminal
law prohibits and punishes a sexual act between members of the same
sex, even if it is a consensual act. (The law terms intercourse between ho-
mosexuals as kyegan, which literally means intercourse between chickens.)

Mass Media and Youth Education

In addition to working to protect gay military members’ rights to privacy

and equal treatment, gay activist groups launched campaigns targeting the
mass media, schools, and churches. They issued joint statements to pro-
test articles and reports in magazines and newspapers that pandered to
sensationalism and provoked the public’s curiosity about gays and les-
bians.13 These reports, usually dealing with gays and lesbians involved in
promiscuous secret parties and anonymous sexual encounters in restrooms
at bus terminals, the activists asserted, posed a great danger of reinforcing
false and distorted images of the homosexual population. The activist
groups also fought a series of actions by conservative Christian organi-
zations such as Kookmin ilbo and Han’gich’ŏng (Pan-Christian Coalition
of Korea) that condemned homosexual orientations and behavior based
on conservative biblical interpretations and defined them as a mental
illness.14
The gay rights activists also reached out to teachers and students. By
organizing cultural events and academic forums on campus and dissem-
inating informational materials to teachers’ unions, activists attempted
to enhance youth’s awareness and eliminate groundless homophobia. Ef-
forts focused on eliminating references and definitions in laws and govern-
ment regulations that characterize homosexuals as psychological deviants,
disease-carriers, pedophiles, or sodomites.15 The Queer Cultural Festival
—Rainbow Parade—has become an annual event since 2000, held to
augment self-pride among sexual minorities and to promote a positive un-
derstanding among the general population.16
Protecting youth from dangerous media influences has been a major

Youngshik D. Bong The Gay Rights Movement in Democratizing Korea 91

theme favored by those who oppose full political representation of gays
and lesbians. Article 7 of the Enforcement Ordinance of the Youth Pro-
tection Commission, prior to its revision in April 2004, had listed homo-
sexual behavior as a ‘‘socially unacceptable’’ act along with intercourse
with animals, orgy, and incest. Section 1, Article 10, of the Youth Protec-
tion Law defines mediums inciting lewd thoughts and pandering to
youth’s sexual desire as hazardous materials to be prohibited. These two
laws have long been the basis of many decisions by the Committee for
Ethics of Information and Communication (CEIC, a government agency
equivalent to the Federal Communication Commission in the United
States) that censors content favorable to homosexuals or that explicitly
mentions them.
Gay and lesbian groups, the proliferation and networking of which
had immensely depended upon widening access to the Internet in Korea,
vigorously attacked Internet Tŭnggŭpche, the Internet content rating
system of the CEIC, which restricted youth access to gay and lesbian
Internet Web sites. In 2000, they protested the CEIC’s order of closure
to ‘‘X-Zone,’’ a Web-based community site, by supporting its legal battles
to have the order repealed. In December 2001, they submitted a collective
petition to the Constitutional Court, calling for a ruling on whether free-
dom of expression was violated in this case.17 The groups pointed out
that the International Lesbian and Gay Association, a renowned interna-
tional umbrella organization for gay rights, was on the list of 120,000 for-
eign Web sites the CEIC deemed ‘‘risky’’ and prohibited. They also indi-
cated that Korea was a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR) advocating freedom of expression (Article 2)
and rights to equality (Article 26) including ‘‘rights to protection from
discriminations based upon sexual orientation’’ in all signatory states.18
In 2002, gay and lesbian communities also organized Tongsŏngaeja Ch’a-
byŏl Pandae Undong Haengdong (Solidarity for Action against Discrimi-
nations of Homosexuals) to protest the main search engine providers in
Korea (Yahoo Korea, Freechal, Daum, and others) as they unilaterally
closed gay and lesbian Web sites, placed automatic pop-ups warning view-
ers that those sites were hazardous to underage Internet users, and catego-
rized words like ‘‘homosexual’’ and ‘‘gay’’ as adult-only search terms. In
October 2002, Kkirikkiri filed a complaint with the NHRC against an
Internet technology company that developed a computer program, Suho
ch’ŏnsa (Guardian Angel), that automatically identifies and blocks homo-
sexual communities’ Web sites.19
In the new millennium, a few groundbreaking developments that en-
hanced public awareness of gay issues came about. In 2000, Hong Suk

92 Korean Studies VOLUME 32 | 2008

Chon (Hong Sŏk-ch’ŏn), a well-known television actor, declared his
homosexuality. The coming-out of a public figure for the first time in his-
tory was a cultural shock that gradually enhanced public awareness and
changed public perception of homosexuality in Korea from merely char-
acterizing it as foreign disease to seeing it as a reality for Koreans.20 Ha Ri
Soo, a celebrity who had transsexual operations before entering the enter-
tainment business, has become a pop icon among men and women. Hav-
ing been granted the court’s permission to change her legal status as a
female citizen in 2002, Ha continues to manage a very successful career
as a singer with four music albums, a movie star, and a model for women’s
cosmetics. In 2005, the movie Wang ŭi namja (The King and the
Clown), which dealt with the sorrow and beauty of homosexual love
with extraordinary candidness, became a record-breaking box office hit.
Mainstream mass media began to tap the rising public interest in homo-
sexuality and ran programs reporting the dilemmas and difficulties experi-
enced by sexual minorities, especially those of school age.21

Gays in Court: Sexual Crimes

The law has been a hostile yet familiar venue for homosexuals seeking to
make their voices heard.22 This has been particularly so in Korea. Korea’s
legal system is conservative in nature in terms of advancing political rights
of sexual minorities. On the one hand, the Constitution of Korea em-
braces human dignity and equality as universal principles. Article 10 of
the Constitution stipulates that ‘‘[A]ll citizens shall be assured of human
dignity and worth and have the right to pursue happiness. It is the duty of
the State to confirm and guarantee the fundamental and inviolable human
rights of individuals.’’ Article 11 also reads, ‘‘All citizens shall be equal
before the law, and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic,
social or cultural life on account of sex, religion or social status.’’23 On the
Other hand, the Constitution also endorses the concept of society based
upon sexual dichotomy, a society made up of two and only two sexes,
male and female. Article 36 of the Constitution reads, ‘‘Marriage and
family life shall be entered into and sustained on the basis of individual
dignity and equality of the sexes.’’ While the Constitution’s pronounce-
ment of universal human dignity and rejection of prejudice and discrimi-
nation would help gays and lesbians corroborate their demand for legal
justice and fairness, the binary concept of a marriage ingrained in law
hampers their effort in realizing them.
The binary conceptualization of sexual identity, embedded in legal
concepts and language, has undercut the political rights of Korean homo-

Youngshik D. Bong The Gay Rights Movement in Democratizing Korea 93

sexuals to the equal protection of the law. In the legal realm, sexual vio-
lence is exclusively defined as violence committed against a woman by a
man. This definition is too narrow to include both sexual violence com-
mitted by a woman against a man and between members of the same sex.
In criminal law, the most important criterion used to distinguish between
a rape and a sexual assault is whether the offender’s sexual organ was in-
serted in the victim’s sexual organ. If it was, the act is defined as a rape
case. If not, the case will be treated as a sexual assault case. Moreover,
in current criminal law (criminal code no. 297), only punyŏja (a female,
either married or single) is considered a rape victim. Thus, if a homosex-
ual person is raped by another person of the same or the opposite sex, he
or she will not be treated as a rape victim. The offender will be only
charged as a sexual assault criminal, but not as a rapist, thus avoiding a
far heavier punishment.24 Moreover, homosexual people are not equally
protected under domestic violence law as heterosexual people. The Special
Law on Domestic Violence in Korea includes a partner in common mar-
riage but a same-sex domestic partner is not considered a member of a
family. Therefore, the law’s aggravated assault clause does not apply to
an assault case between same-sex partners.25
One major change in favor of legal protection of homosexuals against
sex crimes was the Supreme Court’s 1996 ruling (96-do-791) that, for the
first time in the history of Korean law, adopted a gender-based approach
in determining a person’s sexuality. In reviewing an appeal of a lower
court’s decision,26 the Supreme Court inquired whether the victim, a
transsexual with clearly identifiable physical attributes of a female, would
be a subject of rape as defined by law. The Court upheld the traditional
definition of including only punyŏja, married or single woman, as a rape
victim, but asserted that the concept of punyŏja should be determined not
solely by genetic determinants but also ‘‘in accordance with prevailing so-
cial understandings’’ (sahoe t‘ongnyŏmsang). Although the Supreme Court
upheld the lower court’s decision to acquit the offender charged with rape
on the ground that the victim was still not legally regarded punyŏja by the
new criteria, this 1996 decision set an important precedent stipulating
that an individual’s sexual status in law be determined not just by biology
but also by psychological, social, and personal aspects of self-identification
and perceptions of other members of society.27
In summary, the gay rights movement in Korea has focused on dis-
pelling prejudice and false stereotyping and fighting to gain equal pro-
tection under the law. Activists have fought to redress the pathologies of
conventional political, social, and legal environments where sexual minor-

94 Korean Studies VOLUME 32 | 2008

ities were hated, punished, and ignored simply because of their sexual
orientations.
This persistent collective effort recently produced some visible achieve-
ments. For instance, homosexuality was removed from the Youth Pro-
tection Commission’s list of ‘‘socially unacceptable’’ acts and was deleted
from Article 7 in 2004.28 As of 2006, the Office of Statistics no longer
directly ties homosexuality to mental disturbances in the category of dis-
eases. In the sexual education manual for junior high school teachers,
homosexuality is referred to as another human lifestyle and an expres-
sion of affection.29 In its National Human Rights Action Plan (NAP)
published in January 2006, the NHRC recommended that Article 92
of the military law be struck out, asserting that a ‘‘sexual minority’s
rights to life, protection, labor, and freedom from prejudice and dis-
crimination must be guaranteed.’’ It also issued a policy recommenda-
tion in 2006 that national health insurance cover medical expenses for
sex-change operations.30 Activists themselves acknowledge that the over-
all movement has successfully progressed from a sporadic and local phe-
nomenon of building personal ‘‘shelters’’ and networks for information-
sharing and friendship to a legitimate and organized effort that speaks
and stands for the entire gay and lesbian community.
In politics, the NHRC, in November 2001, designated discrimina-
tion based on homosexuality as one of nineteen issues for which it rec-
ommended the President’s Office and the National Assembly exercise
increased oversight for systematic violations of human rights. In June
2006, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s decision and ruled in
favor of the plaintiff, a transsexual who appealed to change his legal name
and status in the family register system (hojŏk) from woman to man. The
court’s ruling was significant in that it expanded the legal definition of
gender from the previous definition that was exclusively based on biolog-
ical attributes such as X and Y chromosomes to a new one taking into
account not only biological attributes but also psychological and social
dimensions.31
One paradoxical development related to sexual minorities’ rights to
equal protection under the law is the Special Law on Prostitution and
the Sex-Trade Prevention Act. Prior to the two laws coming into effect
in September 2004, sex trade between persons of the same sex was not
charged under the Prostitution Prevention Law because the law defined
prostitution only as an act between members of different sexes.32 The
new laws made no distinction between sex trade involving members of
the same sex or involving members of opposite sexes.33 Although the orig-

Youngshik D. Bong The Gay Rights Movement in Democratizing Korea 95

inal goal of these laws was to better protect underaged females from pros-
titution, the letter of the laws helps protect sexual minorities.

Prospects and Problems of the Gay Rights Movement

Many participants in the gay rights movement that this author inter-
viewed in 2005 agreed that political representation of the gay population
has improved drastically, and yet its future still faces numerous and ardu-
ous hurdles.
One interviewee agreed that,

Making the society acknowledge that we are not dangerous, we exist, our sexual
orientations are not a pathological symptom, and we are not called by deroga-
tory terms like ‘‘homos’’ or ‘‘homosexual lovers’’ [tongsŏng yŏnaeja] but ‘‘homo-
sexuals’’ [tongsŏngaeja], these small changes are not small achievements, al-
though much needs to be improved.34

Another interviewee added that he had met a lot of senior gay people in
their sixties and older telling him that

We would not have entered a marriage had the social atmosphere in our time
been anything like these days. We had no idea we were homosexual. We
did not have a chance to know who we were. Our younger friends [hubae] in
their forties were at least more conscious [of their sexual identity] and chose to
emigrate.35

The interviewees also shared a few common concerns regarding the

direction and sustainability of the movement after its initial success. The
first concern is whether the gay rights movement should continue to rely
on pan-human rights solidarity to maintain the momentum of the move-
ment. Due to the lack of number and organizations, gay rights activists
had to forge alliances with other human rights groups. Advocating gay
rights as a part of the overall human rights movement (women, environ-
ment, prisoners, education, antiwar, labor, and so forth) helped draw at-
tention and support from other activist groups and the society in general.
However, such an action plan constrained the latitude of the gay
rights movement and limited its members’ ability to articulate political
agendas unique to sexual minorities. Besides, beyond rendering sympa-
thetic support for the gay rights movement as another human rights issue,
other organizations would find it difficult, or contrary to their own orga-
nizational interests, to advocate the ‘‘deep’’ and ‘‘serious’’ issues for sexual

96 Korean Studies VOLUME 32 | 2008

minorities who are a bit ‘‘too different.’’ For instance, in March 2003,
Pusan Metropolitan Women’s Center did not admit members of the
Pusan Lesbian Human Rights Center to its Workshops for Women. The
Pusan Lesbian Human Rights Center petitioned the NHRC regarding
possible discrimination. The Pusan Metropolitan Women’s Center re-
sponded that the Center was not a platform for women’s rights and its
activity had no bearing on gender equality between men and women.36
Collaboration between feminist organizations and lesbian activists has
been minimal because the former remained reluctant to publicly accept
lesbian sexual discourse as an integral part of feminist discourse.37 A leader
of a progressive Christian human rights advocacy group that I inter-
viewed expressed a similar view:

It is okay for them [gay rights activists] to take part in our [Christian churches’]
activities. However, it is still too early [for Korean Christian groups to openly
support their causes]. Every human rights issue is, after all, something that
needs to be solved by actions taken by people who are the subject. If the church
gets into the issue of homosexuality, it cannot avoid dealing with the biblical
interpretations.38

Another area of concern for gay rights activists is the persistency of

patriarchic culture in the society. As illustrated in Ha Ri Soo’s case, some-
times the ‘‘success’’ of the gay rights movement at both personal and col-
lective levels is nothing more than yielding to the heterosexual-centered
system. By acting as a ‘‘transsexual who is prettier than any women,’’
and ‘‘a person dying to now have a baby . . . whose favorite hobby is knit-
ting,’’ Ha appears to accept, rather than challenge, the image of a woman
demanded in the patriarchic society.39 In contrast, Hong Suk Chon,
whose coming-out challenged the conventional dichotomy of masculinity
and femininity, was vilified. Transsexuals’ petitions for legal sex changes
in court are driven by personal wishes to avoid social discrimination but
indirectly confirm the male-female dichotomy as the only accepted prin-
ciple in determining one’s sexual identity.40
The third and final common concern is the clash between individual
interests and collective interests in living as a homosexual in Korean soci-
ety. One interviewee who identified himself as a gay radical explained
what makes the oppression of homosexuals in Korea unique:

In Korea, the homosexual movement was very weak. But more importantly, so
has oppression of homosexuals, which created an interesting situation: Oppres-
sion is real and ubiquitous, yet invisible and weak enough to make calls for ad-
vocating homosexuals’ rights look ‘‘excessive’’ or ‘‘privileging.’’

Youngshik D. Bong The Gay Rights Movement in Democratizing Korea 97

 Such nebulous conditions of oppression support an optimistic fore-
cast about the society’s acceptance of homosexuals, especially when com-
pared to Western society. (‘‘Koreans are not violent. At least no gay is
beaten to death in Korea.’’) However, others countered that such condi-
tions also weaken the impetus of the gay rights movement. They pointed
out that many white-collar homosexuals tend to choose to remain in the
closet rather than act upon big causes and principles because the personal
cost of coming out is huge and it is easier to stay in the ‘‘ghetto.’’ As long
as homosexuals do not cross the boundary of ghettos set by invisible rules
in the society, their access to ‘‘normal life’’ is guaranteed.41 Such expected
benefits of maintaining the status quo and the punishment for breaking it
put individual sexual minorities in a serious dilemma of collective action.
In summary, the participants of the gay rights movement in Korea face a
set of old and new challenges. While continuing to deal with invisible op-
pressive conditions and low public interest, they need to strike a balance
between their participation in the general human rights movement and
independent representation of gay rights.

Conclusion

Despite the hostile initial conditions and remaining obstacles, the gay
rights movement in Korea appears to have made a number of significant
achievements in enhancing the legal, social, and political status of the ho-
mosexual population in public spheres and moved on to the next battle-
front. It remains to be seen what kind of normative arguments, organized
action plans, and strategic choices the new phase of the gay rights move-
ment will employ and how effectively they will enhance the representation
of sexual minorities as a legitimate and priority human rights issue.
Examining the status of sexual minorities and the gay rights move-
ment is a useful exercise that helps us understand not only the issue itself
but also both the undercurrent of the politics of minority rights and dem-
ocratic consolidation in Korea. In particular, further research on this sub-
ject is needed to discover and evaluate evidence that helps clarify the
future trajectory of sexual minority rights in democratizing Korea.
There are at least two hypotheses future research can use. The first
hypothesis to be tested relates to the overall improvement of human
rights and the gay rights movement in Korean society. At first blush, the
democratic movement and minority rights for homosexuals appear to go
hand in hand. One may imagine the relationship between democratiza-
tion in general and the gay rights movement in particular as being by

98 Korean Studies VOLUME 32 | 2008

and large mutually reinforcing. It seems a plausible hypothesis to believe
that a higher degree of public tolerance of diversity and equality under
the law as a result of democratic consolidation will lead to a higher de-
gree of tolerance and protection for sexual minorities. On the other
hand, the two phenomena may well be discrepant and disconnected. Al-
though the net effect of democratic consolidation generally may help
improve the baseline conditions for the gay population to represent its
political interests as a minority group, the lag between the pace of ad-
vancing gay rights and that of democratization in general may remain
significant.
The other hypothesis explores whether different minority rights are
associated with each other in consistent and harmonious ways. Advancing
one minority right may not necessarily be done in a way that is harmo-
nious and synchronic with other minority rights issues. When unifying
goals no longer exist and spirits of solidarity dwindle, the political game
is no longer the state versus the civil society but becomes a zero-sum com-
petition among minorities within the civil society. In such a case, the dis-
tribution of the benefits of democracy will be biased and uneven among
minority groups, thus exacerbating power relationships and political rep-
resentations among them.
As one gay activist notes, compared to other minorities, sexual minor-
ities in Korea are so deprived of political resources, language, and sheer
numbers and so powerless that they lacked effective means to claim them-
selves as a legitimate minority group that actually exists and deserves right-
ful representations and benefits in the broad context of the human rights
movement in Korea.42 It remains to be seen whether the sexual minorities
will become a minority among minorities in Korea, so powerless that they
cannot even prove they are powerless, or successfully ride on the wave of
democratization to claim their seat in the process of minority empower-
ment in Korean politics.

Notes

I would like to thank Hagen Koo, Jungmin Seo, and two anonymous reviewers for their
comments and suggestions and Bong-geun Oh for his research assistance.
1. Throughout this article, for the sake of brevity, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and
transsexuals will be referred to as either ‘‘gays and lesbians’’ or ‘‘sexual minorities,’’ and
their rights as ‘‘gay rights,’’ depending on the context. These usages should not be under-
stood as intended to imply that other sexual minorities such as bisexuals and transsexuals
are excluded.

Youngshik D. Bong The Gay Rights Movement in Democratizing Korea 99

 2. Han’guk Inkwŏn Chaedan [Korean Foundation of Human Rights], ed., Ilsang
ŭi ŏgap kwa sosuja inkwŏn ŭi ilkwon [Everyday Oppression and Minority Rights] (Seoul:
Saramsaenggak, 2000).
3. In-seop Han and Hyeon-a Yang, ed., Sŏngchŏk sosuja inkwŏn [Sexual Minority
Rights] (Seoul: Saramsaenggak, 2002).
4. Yeowool Jo, ‘‘Kukka inkwŏn chŏngch’aek kibon kyehoek surip ŭl wihan sŏng-
chŏk sosuja inkwŏn kich’o hyŏnhwang chosa’’ [Preliminary Study of Human Rights of
Sexual Minority], 2005 Report for the National Human Rights Commission of the Republic
of Korea, 2005, 1–327.
5. Young-gwan Kim and Sook-ja Hahn, ‘‘Homosexuality in Ancient and Modern
Korea,’’ Culture, Health & Sexuality, 8.1 (2006): 59–65.
6. Dongjin Seo, ‘‘Mapping the Vicissitudes of Homosexual Identities in South
Korea,’’ Journal of Homosexuality, 40.3 (2001): 65–79.
7. Seungsook Moon, Militarized Modernity and Gendered Citizenship in South
Korea (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2005).
8. Chae-yoon Han, ‘‘Sŏngchŏk sosuja ch’abyŏl ŭi ponjil kwa silche kŭrigo haeso-
pangan’’ [The Nature and Reality of Discriminations toward Sexual Minority and Op-
tions], in Sŏngchŏk sosuja inkwŏn [Sexual Minority Rights], ed. In-seop Han and Hyeon-a
Yang (Seoul: Saramsaenggak, 2002), 43–69.
9. Hyesuk Kim-Song, ‘‘Han’guk yŏsŏng tongsŏngaeja undong kwa p’eminijŭm:
Kkirikkiri hwaltong ŭl chungsim ŭro’’ [Lesbian Movement in Korea and Feminism: The
Role of Kkirikkiri], Monograph, 2003, 43–50.
10. The Pagoda movie theater located in a back alley of the Chongno commercial
area in downtown Seoul has long been known as a place for gay people to ‘‘socialize.’’
Many heterosexual Koreans tended to regard the place as symbolizing the reclusive,
ghetto-like lifestyle of homosexuals. Traditionally, gays have moved only in the shadows
of Korean society. Chongno was known to attract older, mostly married Korean men,
whereas It’aewŏn was for younger Koreans and foreign men.
11. Hankyoreh, Apr. 18, 2004; ‘‘Will Gays Be Exempted from Draft?: Response
from the Recruiting Office,’’ Buddy, 19 (2001), cited in Jo, ‘‘Kukka inkwŏn chŏngch’aek
kibon kyehoek surip ŭl wihan sŏngchŏk sosuja inkwŏn kich’o hyŏnhwang chosa,’’ 63.
12. Those who refused to submit the evidence to medical officers had to return to
their units, where they were usually subjected to unwelcome scrutiny by others after their
sexual orientations were revealed. On Feb. 15, 2006, thirty-five human rights advocacy
organizations and the Labor Party of Korea held a press conference and protested the neg-
ligence and failure by the military to protect the privacy of a gay serviceman, whose sexual
orientation was revealed against his wish and held in derision by others through photo-
graphs he submitted to prove his sexual acts in bed with another gay man in order to
obtain a discharge. The victim, after suffering from depression and heightened suicidal
impulses, finally sought help from Gay Rights Solidarity (GRS) during his leave. GRS re-
ported this case to the NHRC on his behalf, which subsequently dispatched an investiga-

100 Korean Studies VOLUME 32 | 2008

tive team to the victim’s military unit. ‘‘Tongsŏngaeja ipchŭng haryŏmyŏn sŏnggwan’gye
sajin ŭl kajyŏwara?’’ [Gays Are Required to Submit a Photograph Showing Their Sexual
Acts],’’ Ohmynews (Internet News), Feb. 15, 2006 (last visit: Aug. 1, 2008).
13. Won-jae Jang, ‘‘Namsŏng Tongsŏngaeja ipchŭng chiptan seksŭ . . . Nunch’i
ponŭn i ŏpssŏtta’’ [Gay Orgy . . . No One Hid], Weekly Donga, Mar. 7, 2006, 28–30.
14. ‘‘Homosexuality Is Caused by Mutant Genes in Brains’’ and ‘‘Transgressing the
Creation,’’ Koonmin ilbo, Apr. 2, 2003. ‘‘Homosexuality May Breed a Wrong Culture of
Sex,’’ Koonmin Ilbo, Dec. 22, 2003.
15. For instance, on July 28, 1999, Homosexual Human Rights Solidarity sub-
mitted a letter of protest to the Ministry of Education, urging it to take action to delete
misleading and degrading descriptions of homosexuals in school textbooks approved by
the ministry. According to Solidarity, the 1999 high school ethics textbook contains a sen-
tence that reads ‘‘. . . since the 1980s, sexual morality in the society has deteriorated and, as
a result, homosexuality driven by commercialism, personal ignorance of sex, and mistaken
sex ethics, has emerged’’ (p. 106). The 1999 high school textbook of Military Training
directly relates homosexual behavior to the spread of AIDS: ‘‘. . . Homosexuality and
homosexual behavior cause various diseases including AIDS [p. 268]. AIDS is found . . .
homosexual persons, indiscriminate sexual acts with the opposite sex [p. 270].’’ Sex and
Happiness, a sex-education textbook published by Seoul City Hall in 1997, explains on
page thirty-two that ‘‘sexual self-actualization means, based upon appropriately established
sexual identity, becoming a male or a female who will create an independent yet harmoni-
ous relationship with a person of an opposite sex’’ (p. 32). Tae Hoon Lim, ‘‘Tongsŏngaeja
inkwŏn [Gay Human Rights],’’ in Han’guk Inkwŏn Chaedan, Ilsang ŭi ŏgap kwa sosuja
inkwŏn ŭi ilkwon, 535–55; Seok-tae Lee, ‘‘Sŏngchŏk sosuja inkwŏn chihyang e kŭn’gŏhan
ch’abyŏl kwa taech’aek’’ [Discriminations Based upon Sexual Orientations and Policy
Options], in Sŏngchŏk sosuja inkwŏn [Sexual Minority Rights], ed. In-seop Han and
Hyeon-a Yang (Seoul: Saramsaenggak, 2002), 77–78.
16. ‘‘Gay Entertainers and Human Rights Class,’’ Chosun ilbo, June 1, 2005; ‘‘Nu-
merous Hong Suk Chon, Out to Chongno,’’ Ohmynews, June 5, 2005.
17. On Nov. 9, 2001, the X-Zone announced its voluntary closure in protest. Divi-
sion 11 of the Seoul Administrative Court dismissed the appeal to repeal the order of clo-
sure to X-Zone. Jo, ‘‘Kukka inkwŏn chŏngch’aek kibon kyehoek surip ŭl wihan Sŏngchŏk
sosuja inkwŏn kich’o hyŏnhwang chosa,’’ 302; Hyeon-a Yang, ‘‘Sŏngchŏk sosuja: Pŏpsa-
hoehakchŏk chaengchŏm kwa chŏnmang’’ [Sexual Minorities: Legal-Sociological Issues
and Prospects], in Sŏngchŏk sosuja inkwŏn [Sexual Minority Rights], ed. In-seop Han
and Hyeon-a Yang (Seoul: Saramsaenggak, 2002), 32.
18. Jo, ‘‘Kukka inkwŏn chŏngch’aek kibon kyehoek surip ŭl wihan sŏngchŏk sosuja
inkwŏn kich’o hyŏnhwang chosa,’’ 301.
19. Yang, ‘‘Sŏngchŏk sosuja,’’ 33.
20. Norimitsu Onishi, ‘‘Korean Actor’s Reality Drama: Coming Out as Gay,’’ New
York Times, Oct. 1, 2003.

Youngshik D. Bong The Gay Rights Movement in Democratizing Korea 101

 21. KBS 8 O’Clock Newstimes, Jan. 19, 2006.
22. For discussions of legal battles for gay and lesbian rights in the United States,
see Evan Gerstmann, The Constitutional Underclass: Gays, Lesbians, and the Failure of Class-
Based Equal Protection (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1999) and Jonathan Goldberg-
Hiller, The Limits to Union: Same-Sex Marriage and the Politics of Civil Rights (Ann Arbor:
Univ. of Michigan Press, 2002).
23. Jong-sup Cheong, trans., The Constitution of Korea (Korean and English) (Seoul:
ILBIT Publishing Co., 2002), 30.
24. Jo, ‘‘Kukka inkwŏn chŏngch’aek kibon kyehoek surip ŭl wihan sŏngchŏk sosuja
inkwŏn kich’o hyŏnhwang chosa,’’ 35.
25. Jo, ‘‘Kukka inkwŏn chŏngch’aek kibon kyehoek surip ŭl wihan sŏngchŏk sosuja
inkwŏn kich’o hyŏnhwang chosa,’’ 46–47.
26. The victim in this criminal case was born in 1958 and twice received surgical
operations, in 1991 and 1992, in Japan that removed his male sex organs and transplanted
female organs. As a result of the operations, the victim lived a ‘‘normal life’’ as a woman
except for being incapable of conceiving and giving birth. In 1995, the victim was kid-
napped and gang-raped by males, and the offenders, who were charged with rape, were
found not guilty in the lower court. The lower court ruled that the victim could not
be legally regarded a woman and thereby the criminal law on rape (code 297) did not
apply.
27. Chun Eui Hong, ‘‘Sŏngjŏnhwanja ŭi sŏngbyŏl kyŏlchŏng e taehan pŏpchŏk
chŏpkŭn’’ [Legal Approaches on Determining Transsexuals’ Sex Identity],’’ in Sŏngchŏk
sosuja inkwŏn [Sexual Minority Rights], ed. In-seop Han and Hyeon-a Yang (Seoul:
Saramsaenggak, 2002), 117–19. For a critical review of the Supreme Court ruling, see
Hyeon-mi Cheong, ‘‘Sŏngchŏnhwan Susulcha ŭi Kangkanjoe ŭi kaekch’e yŏbu’’ [On
Whether a Transsexual Is Defined as the Subject of a Rape], Hyŏngsa P’allye yŏn’gu, 6
(Seoul: Pagyŏngsa, 1998), 170–80.
28. For the revised text, see http://www.lawnb.com/lawinfo/law/info_law_searchview.
asp?ljo=l&lawid=00283900 (last visit: Apr. 18, 2008).
29. Jo, ‘‘Kukka inkwŏn chŏngch’aek kibon kyehoek surip ŭl wihan sŏngchŏk sosuja
inkwŏn kich’o hyŏnhwang chosa,’’ 27–28.
30. The National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea (http://
www.humanrights.go.kr).
31. Chosun ilbo, June 22, 2006.
32. Due to the loophole in the law, police in the past failed to charge homosexuals
(and sometimes heterosexual males who paid for sex from gay persons without knowing
their sexual identity) engaged in sex trade for violating the Prostitution Prevention Law.
Kookmin ilbo, July 12, 1996; Hankook ilbo, July 13, 1996.
33. Hankook ilbo, Apr. 11, 15, 2002; Moonhwa ilbo, July 24, 2002.
34. Interview, Seoul, Korea, Jan. 17, 2006.
35. Interview, Seoul, Korea, Jan. 16, 2006.

102 Korean Studies VOLUME 32 | 2008

 36. Jo, ‘‘Kukka inkwŏn chŏngch’aek kibon kyehoek surip ŭl wihan sŏngchŏk sosuja
inkwŏn kich’o hyŏnhwang chosa,’’ 57.
37. Kim-Song, ‘‘Han’guk yŏsŏng tongsŏngaeja undong kwa p’eminijŭm,’’ 48.
38. Interview, Jan. 12, 2006.
39. Yang, ‘‘Sŏngchŏk sosuja,’’ 24–25. See also Chosun ilbo, Jan. 16, 2006.
40. Even the movie The King and the Clown, which is considered an epochal cul-
tural phenomenon embracing homosexuality, is not primarily about homosexual love.
Rather, its characters and story line are built around traditional Korean values. The
movie’s appeal hinges on the ‘‘pretty male’’ characters and role-plays by a masculine clown
and a feminine clown. The director, Joon-ik Lee, himself denies the notion that his movie
carries a gay theme. ‘‘This is not homosexuality as defined by the West, homosexuality is
fate, not a preference. Here, it’s a practice.’’ Norimitsu Onishi, ‘‘Seoul Journal: Gay-
Themed Film Gives Closet Door a Tug,’’ New York Times, Mar. 31, 2006.
41. ‘‘You can always find places to go—café, bars, restaurants, resorts—in any of
metropolitan areas in the nation. Your sexual orientations will not be a problem making
you unable to enjoy a kind of life any (heterosexual) member of the upper-middle class.’’
Interview, Jan. 14, 2005, Seoul, Korea.
42. Interview, Jan. 16, 2006, Seoul, Korea.

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