From Reuters:
“South Korean court upholds ban on gay sex within armed
forces”
South Korea's constitutional court on Thursday narrowly
upheld a law banning same-sex relations within the armed forces, citing a
possible risk to the military's combat readiness in a ruling criticised by
activists as a setback for gay rights. Under the country's military criminal
act, members of the armed forces face up to two years in prison for same-sex
relationships. The law has been referred to the court and upheld by it four
times since 2002.
In Thursday's five-to-four ruling, the court said allowing
same-sex relations could undermine discipline within the military and harm its
combat capabilities. Rights groups have been urging the court to scrap what
they termed an "outdated and bad" law, after the Supreme Court last
year overturned a military court's conviction of two soldiers sentenced to
suspended prison terms for a consensual same-sex relationship. nActivists said
the law fuels violence and discrimination against and stigmatization of gay
soldiers. "This continued endorsement for the criminalization of
consensual same-sex acts within the Korean military is a distressing setback in
the decades-long struggle for equality in the country," Boram Jang,
Amnesty International's East Asia researcher, said in a statement after
Thursday's ruling.
South Korea has one of the world's largest active armies,
with all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 28 required to serve
between 18 and 21 months.
^ It is sad to see a supposedly Developed Country like South
Korea still have such backwards views on Homosexuality. ^
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