Many human rights group in South Korea expressed concerns over the circumstances facing general South Korean conscripts, homosexuals in particular.
IRB even mentioned a case in which a South Korean gay man experienced serious depression and suicidal thought after being harassed in the military, the rights group said. His case marks the first time in South Korea that a man seeks asylum in a foreign country to refuse the military draft due to his homosexuality.
“Since I was little, I couldn’t sympathize with the military and war at all,” Kim was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as saying. “I have no regrets (about leaving South Korea) as I had great worries about possible human rights abuses I could have suffered as a homosexual.”
In South Korea, all able-bodied men over 20 are required to serve in the military for more than two years.
(아주경제 송지영 기자)
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