Former Army Sergeant Byun Hee-soo, who was forced to discharge after undergoing sex change surgery. News 1
Byun Hee-soo (23), a former army sergeant, who was forced to be discharged from military service due to a sex change operation, was found dead at his home on the 3rd.
Reported by the mental health welfare center registered as a counselor
According to the Chungju Sangdang Police Station in Chungbuk, a report from the Sangdang Mental Health Welfare Center was received that the Sergeant Byeon could not be contacted at around 5:47 pm on the same day. Police dispatched to the scene found him hiding in Sergeant Byeon’s home room. The will has not yet been confirmed.
When the police were dispatched, the door of the house was locked inside. So, the police said that they forcibly opened the door and entered the house. The Military Rights Center also confirmed the news of the death of former Sergeant Byeon on the afternoon of that day, and Major General Lim Tae-hoon headed directly to Cheongju.
Sergeant Byeon was registered as a counselor at the mental health welfare center in a large number of districts. The center informed the police and fire departments that it has not been contacted since the 28th of last month.
A police official said, “Sergeant Byeon tried to make an extreme choice even in mid-November last year, and confronted the police for 2-3 hours and was under intensive management at the Suicide Prevention Center.”
Sergeant Byeon served in a unit in the northern region of Gyeonggi Province, and returned to the military after undergoing sex change surgery abroad during his vacation in 2019. He hoped to’continue to serve’ even after the transition.
However, the military made a mandatory investigation on changes in the body of former Sergeant Byeon, who had undergone sex change surgery, and made a’psychological and physical disability level 3 judgment’, and on January 22 last year, he decided to discharge. In February of last year, he filed a personnel appeal with the Army Headquarters asking for a re-evaluation of the decision to discharge, but it was not accepted.
Sergeant Byeon filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on January 20 last year, two days before the evaluation of the discharge, and also filed a request for emergency relief requesting the suspension of the unfair evaluation of the discharge. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea made an emergency relief decision on the 21st of the next day and recommended that the Army Headquarters postpone the holding of the evaluation committee for three months, but the Army conducted a discharge review.
Sergeant Byeon filed an administrative lawsuit for canceling the disposition in the Daejeon District Law in August last year after the personnel appeal was dismissed, and the first pleading was ahead in April of this year. On December 14, last year, the Human Rights Commission recommended the Chief of Staff of the Army to cancel the disposition of the former Sergeant Byeon. The defense minister recommended that the related system be reorganized to prevent the recurrence of the same damage case.
The National Human Rights Commission said, “The army arbitrarily interpreted sex change surgery as a requirement of’psychiatric disability’ without a clear legal basis and dispose of the victims. He pointed out that there is no reason to see it as a case.
Cheongju = Reporters Choi Jong-kwon and Jin Chang-il [email protected]
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