SOUTH KOREA'S FIRST TRANSGENDER SOLDIER FOUND DEAD

  • 04/03/2021

The first transgender soldier of South Korea, who was forcibly discharged from the army, has been found dead, police confirmed.Firefighters found Byun Hee-soo in her home after a mental health counsellor reported that she had not heard from a soldier for many day.

Byun, who was a staff sergeant, underwent gender-reassignment surgery in Thailand in 2019.She openly spoke about it in public when the military discharged her last year for the surgery and filed a lawsuit against senior officials."I want to show everyone that I can also be one of the great soldiers who protect this country," Byun said, urging: "Please give me that chance."

The defence ministry called the removal of her male genitals a mental or physical handicap and a military panel last year ruled that she would be compulsorily discharged.South Korea remains very conservative about gay rights and some churches regard being LGBT as a sin or a crime.

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