'Denied Recognition of Sergeant Byeon Hee-soo's Death in Service After Forced Discharge Following Gender Transition'

Army Demands Military Death Investigation Committee to Review as Line-of-Duty Death, Opposing Conclusion

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The Army has decided not to recognize the death in the line of duty of the late Sergeant Byeon Hee-su, who was forcibly discharged after undergoing gender reassignment surgery and subsequently passed away.

On the 1st, the Army announced that after holding the Regular Military Service Award Review Committee on the same day, it classified Sergeant Byeon's death as a 'general death.'

A soldier's death is categorized as death in action, death in the line of duty, or general death. According to the Military Personnel Act, if a soldier dies during mandatory service, they are usually classified as having died in the line of duty; however, if the death is caused by intentional or gross negligence or illegal acts, it can be classified as a general death.

This review took place one year and ten months after Sergeant Byeon's death in February last year, and one year and two months after the court ruling last October that deemed the forced discharge illegal. It also came seven months after the Presidential Military Death Accident Investigation Committee requested the Minister of National Defense on April 25 to classify Sergeant Byeon's death as 'death in the line of duty.'

Previously, the Army had defined the physical changes following Sergeant Byeon's gender reassignment surgery as a 'mental and physical disability' and used this as grounds to forcibly discharge him on January 23, 2020.

Sergeant Byeon, who wished to continue his military service, filed an administrative lawsuit seeking cancellation of the forced discharge but was found dead at his home on March 3, 2021, just before the first hearing. The Daejeon District Court Administrative Division 2 ruled in favor of the plaintiff in October last year in the case filed by Sergeant Byeon's bereaved family to cancel the discharge, and the ruling was finalized as the Army did not appeal.

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