Transgender Soldiers

Transgender draftees may get help

-from The Joong Ang Daily
August 21, 2007

Korea’s National Human Rights Commission has recommended that the Defense Ministry change its current procedure for physical examination of new draftees to avoid causing embarrassment to transgender soldiers, the commission said yesterday.An official at the commission said that a draftee, identified only by his last name Kim, filed a complaint with the commission in February.

Kim told the commission that even after supplying medical records and a court document proving that he had received an operation to change his sex and had lawfully changed his gender from female to male, he was still asked by a doctor to show his genitals. The doctor who conducted the physical exam said the medical check-up was done in a separate room. The doctor also said that draftees are subject to detailed exams under the draft law and that documentation alone is not enough.

“We think that a more indirect method could have been used,” said Song Cho-ah, an official at the commission. While a thorough medical check-up is not against the law, the commission pointed out that such practices could leave the person subjected to it “feeling ashamed,” more than other people.

The commission argued that using an x-ray could have saved the complainant the embarrassing experience. An official at the Defense Ministry said the case would be discussed and that it will take into account the recommendation by the commission, which is not legally binding.

The commission has also asked the Military Manpower Administration, which is in charge of recruitment and all draft-related issues, to consider the recommendation.According to the Supreme Court, last year 73 out of 74 applicants were allowed to change their gender.

by Brian Lee Staff Writerhttp://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/africanu@joongang.co.kr