A transgender South Korean soldier who was forcibly discharged from the army after gender reassignment surgery has been found dead, police said yesterday, prompting anger and calls for legal reform.
Firefighters found Byun Hee-soo in her home in Cheongju after a mental health counselor called emergency services to report that she had not been heard from for several days, Yonhap news agency reported.
South Korea remains deeply conservative about matters of sexual identity and is less tolerant of LGBTQ rights than some other parts of Asia, with many gay and transgender South Koreans living largely under the radar.
Photo: EPA-EFE
In her 20s, Byun voluntarily enlisted in 2017. She went on to have gender reassignment surgery in Thailand in 2019.
Formerly a staff sergeant, Byan was last year compulsorily discharged by a military panel, after the South Korean Ministry of National Defense classified the removal of her male genitals as a mental or physical handicap.
At the time, she waived her anonymity to appear at a news conference to plead to be allowed to serve, wearing her fatigues, and saluting the gathered journalists and cameras.
“I’m a soldier of the Republic of Korea,” she said, her voice breaking.
Police confirmed her death, saying that they were investigating.
Reports said that no note was found, but the death was being treated as suicide, with Yonhap citing officials as saying that she had tried to kill herself three months ago.
Byun’s death triggered an outpouring of grief and calls for South Korean lawmakers to pass an anti-discrimination bill.
“The whole of South Korean society bears responsibility for her death,” said a poster on Daum, the country’s second-largest Internet portal. “Those who ridiculed her and made malicious online comments because she was transgender, I want you to reflect on what you did to her.”
South Korea has a conscript army to defend itself against North Korea, with all able-bodied male citizens required to serve for nearly two years.
However, Byun was a volunteer non-commissioned officer and said at her news conference last year that serving in the military had been her childhood dream.
“Putting aside my sexual identity, I want to show everyone that I can be one of the great soldiers,” she said, fighting back tears. “Please give me that chance.”
Her case was the first of its kind in South Korea.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly