Transgenders Now Mandatorily Have to Serve Their Military Service

Military Service Evaluation Amendment for ‘Transgender Women’What’s the Reaction from LGBTQ+ communities?

‘Transgender women’ who are biologically male but identify as female will be assigned to public service if they have not received female hormone therapy for more than six months.

The Ministry of National Defense recently announced a proposed amendment to the ‘Military Service Evaluation Rules for Physical Examination and Other Examination.’ This amendment includes a provision to give a 4th-grade evaluation to gender dysphoric individuals (people whose physical and mental gender does not match) who have not undergone regular cross-sex hormone therapy for more than six months.

Currently, transgender women who have received hormone therapy for more than six months receive a 5th-grade military exemption, and those who do not meet this condition and need further observation for a certain period receive a 7th-grade evaluation and are regularly reexamined.

Therefore, a significant number of gender dysphoric individuals have had to be reexamined continuously, leading to a steady stream of complaints.

The Ministry of National Defense has pushed for a rule amendment, judging that alternative service is possible unless the gender dysphoria problem is severe.

In response, LGBTQ+ rights organizations criticized this as a “misunderstanding and discrimination against transgender people, reducing the issue of gender identity to a surgical treatment problem.” In particular, human rights experts expressed their concerns that transgender women would face discrimination and hatred within the military if they were to serve.

Netizens who heard the news showed various reactions, such as “Why is there no consistency, kicking out Sergeant Byun Hee-soo who wanted to serve in the military, and telling transgender women to serve as a public service?,” “I don’t understand why they are drafting problematic men instead of well-adjusted women,” “It’s harsh to give them 4th-grade public service and even use for reserves,” and “This is all because the number of kids to draft is decreasing over time.”

Meanwhile, if someone has undergone sex reassignment surgery and has changed the legal gender to female, that individual is not subjected to the physical examination for military service evaluation. If one has undergone surgery but the legal gender has not been modified yet, they are given a 5th-grade military exemption evaluation after a visual check.

By. Seung Hee Joo