All of his sexual activities were consensual and took place in private spaces, like his home, Mr. The captain was arrested days before he was scheduled to leave the army, Mr. Lim, whose group advocates the rights of gay soldiers and provided legal assistance to the captain.
The officer was arrested in a Seoul hotel, where he was staying while on an official trip, said Mr. At least 32 faced criminal charges of violating the Military Criminal Act, according to the domestic news media and lawyers and rights advocates familiar with the cases. The captain was arrested on April 13, as the army was ferreting out dozens of soldiers suspected of having same-sex relationships in what rights groups said was a campaign against gay men in the 620,000-member military. In recent years, powerful right-wing Christian groups have intensified a campaign against homosexuality, scuttling a bill that would have given sexual minorities the same protections as other minority groups. In South Korea, the rights of sexual minorities are a largely taboo and politically unpopular subject. Those found to have violated the act face up to two years in prison. The South Korean military criminal code outlaws sodomy and other unspecified “disgraceful conduct” between servicemen, whether or not there is mutual consent and whether or not that conduct takes place in or outside military compounds. Rife said South Korea should repeal an “archaic and discriminatory” provision in its Military Criminal Act that outlaws sex between gay soldiers and to “get up to date when it comes to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex people.”
“What counts is their service, not their sexuality,” she added. “No one should be persecuted based on their sexual orientation, activity or gender identity alone,” Roseann Rife, the director of East Asia research at Amnesty International, said in the statement.
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