A South Korean military court has been accused of discriminating against sexual minorities after it found two male soldiers guilty of indecency for engaging in consensual oral sex.
The ruling, which took place in March but emerged last week, found the soldiers’ actions “bordered on rape” and handed them a six-month suspended prison sentence by applying the controversial article 92-6 of the Military Criminal Act. This punishes “anal sex and other indecent acts” between military personnel with up to two years in prison.
According to an eight-page ruling seen by the Guardian, in December 2020 a soldier entered another’s tent over the course of two nights at a time when they were part of a group isolating due to Covid-19. By engaging in mutual oral sex, they “molested” one another, the ruling reads.
The pair’s lawyer said the act “was consensual” and therefore they were innocent.
The court disagreed. It interpreted that oral sex, according to the military code, “bordered on rape”. The defendants’ conduct, it said, “is considered contrary to good sexual morality,” and was “seriously infringing” on the maintenance of military discipline.
While homosexuality is not illegal in South Korea, it remains taboo in a largely conservative society. President Moon Jae-in – a former human rights lawyer – said prior to becoming president that he was against homosexuality and “did not like it”.
Gay soldiers can be prosecuted. In 2017, article 92-6 was used to indiscriminately monitor and punish gay men in the military, a move human rights campaigners at the time called a “witch-hunt”. More than 20 people were charged. There are also cases of gay soldiers being sent to psychiatric wards.
The law does not differentiate between whether the act was consensual, off-base, or off-duty.
Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/gl…male-soldiers-bordered-on
