Korea’s First Comprehensive Study on Transgender Military Service Has Been Released. Now It Must Lead to Institutional Reform
The Ministry of National Defense has released its Study on Active-Duty Military Service by Transgender Persons (hereinafter, the “Report”), which it had previously withheld on the grounds of “national security and defense.” Open Net requested access to the Report in February, but the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) denied the request, citing Article 9(1)2 of the Official Information Disclosure Act. Open Net subsequently filed an administrative lawsuit seeking to overturn the decision. The Ministry of National Defense later released the Report, making its previously undisclosed findings available to the public. .
The Decision to Withhold the Report Was Unjustified
A substantial portion of the Report consists of surveys of soldiers and the general public, analyses of domestic and foreign laws and policies, and reviews of international cases and policy scenarios. It is difficult to see how disclosure of such material could pose a risk of significantly harming an important national interest, as the authorities claimed when withholding the Report. Neither the Ministry of National Defense nor KIDA adequately explained what specific risks disclosure would create, instead withholding the Report in its entirety. The Ministry should explain why the findings of this study were considered too sensitive to disclose on national security grounds.
The contents of the Report itself demonstrate why it should not have been withheld. KIDA surveyed approximately 4,000 enlisted soldiers, 1,500 officers and non-commissioned officers, and 1,000 members of the general public. It also gathered views from a wide range of stakeholders, including the Military Manpower Administration, the Military Human Rights Center, medical professionals, and lawyers, and systematically examined policies and practices in the armed forces of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Israel, and other countries. This is not information that should be concealed in the name of national security. It is public information that should instead serve as a basis for informed public discussion.
What the Report Shows: This Is a Question of Institutional Design
The Report is significant as the first comprehensive study at the national level to address transgender military service in Korea. It examines international norms and recommendations from the United Nations and other international organizations, foreign laws concerning transgender people, and developments in Korean laws and civil and criminal case law. Rather than approaching transgender military service solely from a military perspective, the Report considers legal and human rights issues as well as the views of soldiers and the general public, and examines a range of possible policy options.
The Report also includes surveys of soldiers and the general public. But whether transgender people should be permitted to serve in the military cannot be decided simply by measuring public support or opposition. The central issue for institutional reform is how a conscription system built around a binary understanding of sex can accommodate people with diverse gender identities, and how discrimination and human rights violations that may arise in the process can be prevented and addressed.
Nor should the survey findings be dismissed. In a survey of 1,000 members of the general public, 8.4% supported allowing transgender people to serve without conditions, 42.2% supported allowing service subject to certain conditions, and 29.2% supported restricting service in principle while allowing exceptions. Only 20.2% supported restricting military service altogether. In other words, support for allowing service under certain conditions was substantially higher than support for restricting it. While negative responses regarding transgender officers were relatively more common among military officers, even among this group, more respondents said that transgender service would not have a negative impact on the military. This suggests that personal attitudes toward transgender people and the actual impact of their service on the military should be considered separately.
Rather than restricting military service based on generalized concerns, the government should identify the specific issues that may arise and establish appropriate measures to prevent and address them. The Report considers various approaches to military service depending on factors such as legal gender, whether a person has undergone gender-affirming surgery, and whether a person transitions during military service. It also addresses the need for institutional measures including counseling and medical support, protection of personal information, safeguards against discrimination, and appropriate guidelines and training. Military effectiveness and the protection of human rights are not mutually exclusive goals. They are objectives that must be pursued together through sound institutional design.
The Release of the Report Must Be a Beginning
The Report is an important starting point simply because it represents the first comprehensive national study of transgender military service in Korea. The purpose of government research is to identify real-world problems and develop an accurate understanding of them. Once those problems have been identified, the government should develop appropriate policies, allocate the necessary resources, and pursue the legal and institutional changes needed to implement them. Research should not end with fact-finding; it should lead to effective policies, adequate funding, and legal and institutional reform. Only then can it contribute to meaningful reform of the military.
Transgender people are already serving in the military. The questions raised by the late Staff Sergeant Byun Heesoo began with this reality. The existence of transgender service members cannot be denied, nor should they be excluded from the military simply because they do not fit within existing gender classifications. The state's responsibility is not to force people who exist in reality to conform to institutions designed without them in mind, but to reform those institutions so that they can accommodate the people who are actually part of our society.
The Ministry of National Defense's decision to release the Report is long overdue, but nonetheless welcome. The release of the Report, however, must not be the end of the process; it must be the beginning. Open Net urges the Ministry of National Defense not to leave the Report's findings on paper, but to recognize the reality of transgender service members and pursue public discussion and institutional reform so that they can serve without discrimination based on their gender identity.
0 Comments