A female officer who was discharged from South Korea's army after almost 28 years following surgery for breast cancer is now leading a campaign to change the military's macho culture.
Pi Woo-jin, who became famous as the army's first woman helicopter pilot, was ordered to retire on Nov. 30 on medical grounds, despite a three-week hike around the nation to prove she is fully fit.
The lieutenant-colonel filed a petition against her dismissal, but it was rejected by the defense ministry -- sparking a heated response from rights activists and supporters who staged protests demanding her reinstatement.
PHOTO: AFP
"I will not give up because I have been watched by many female officers and also by those suffering from cancer," she told reporters, vowing to file a lawsuit with an administrative court.
Activists say the case illustrates prejudice against women in South Korea and gender discrimination in the military, which has no enlisted female soldiers.
"Pi's case shows deep-rooted prejudice in the military as well as how female officers have been discriminated against," said Lee Un-hee, of Citizens' Solidarity for Human Rights.
Pi, 52, grabbed the media spotlight last month when she published a rare book criticizing the sexual discrimination which she says the armed forces' 4,000 female officers, including 17 pilots, have to face.
Under an obligatory conscription system, only men are drafted for more than two years of service, while women who volunteer become officers.
Moon Mee-kyung, an expert in military gender issues at the Korean Women's Development Institute, said women must endure tough conditions to survive as career army officers.
"There is no noticeable discrimination against low-ranking officers. But most female officers are usually sidelined from key field posts, leading to delayed promotion," Moon said.
"Tough conditions and a lack of facilities for women are an important problem to be addressed by the military," she said.
Pi's supporters have formed a fan club, describing her as a crusader in fighting gender discrimination in South Korea, which remains a fundamentally Confucian society despite swift social change.
Pi said she never married due to a regulation at the time that pregnant pilots must be discharged. The rule was abolished in 1989 but she decided to remain single to dedicate herself to her job.
She returned to duty in October after her long hike, but the military retired her under a regulation that any service member with missing body parts must be discharged.
"The army retired me improperly because it did not conduct a prior medical check to see whether I was fit for service," Pi said, adding she was given an examination only after she was told of her early retirement.
Military law states that the physical condition of any person with a disability arising from a disease contracted while off-duty must be examined before discharge.
"The army may not easily abandon old practices and prejudice about women, but I hope my case will kick-start a movement to change its culture," Pi said.
Her campaign has been partly successful but she will not benefit.
"The ministry made a decision properly according to its regulations. We are working to revise our regulations. Even if our regulations are revised, Pi will not be reinstated," a defense ministry spokesman said.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS