Kim Tong-hyung writes in the Korea Times that Moon Jae-in is all about diversity –as long as you’re heterosexual.
Democratic United Party (DUP) candidate Moon Jae-in promotes himself as a champion of diversity and laments how discrimination against minorities supposedly accelerated under the conservative Lee Myung-bak government.
But in an off-the-radar move, the self-styled pro-human-rights presidential candidate has veered off the path, pledging his full commitment toward preventing same-sex marriages from being legalized in Korea, a blatant bid to curry favor with the country’s powerful Christian groups.
Hahn Chae-yoon, president of the civic group Korean Sexual-Minority Culture and Rights Center slammed Moon and his definition of what constitutes “people.”
“Moon is a presidential candidate who chose the slogan that `people come first.’ And he is now letting politics shape his definition of who should be regarded as people.’’
Well, at least the issue is being discussed (artistic interpretations aside) on the executive level of political discourse. I hope that both candidates are pressed by the media about their stance on homosexuality in the ROK. It’s a discussion worth having.
On a side note, something of which I was not aware; if you have gender reassignment in Korea you can officially alter your documentation to match your chosen gender.
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
Just win baby, for the importers! Moon, Jae-in jester move # 2.
This is exactly what Korea needs…an idiot for a president who will push this issue out into the public spotlight. Human rights activists are going to have a lot of fun with him if he gets elected.
Is Moon in the closet?
Given that Korean presidents are limited to one term, I think that MJI might have a Yellow Brick Road to Damascus moment.
I’m still voting for Moon, but this move disappoints me.
It was some random DUP member who said the anti gay-marriage opinion. His opinion is not Moon’s, nor does it necessarily represent the entire party.
“Kwon Hyeok-gi, an official at Moon’s presidential camp, was defensive, claiming it would be an exaggeration to say that the DUP nominee was shifting positions on issues related to the rights of gay people.”I thought the Marmot’s Hole loved mocking Korea Times for its “shitty journalism”. But NOW it’s a legit news source for Moon’s supposed anti-gay stance? Well isn’t THAT convenient.
Flamingo is right.
But just to be clear, he isn’t exactly some random DUP member.
His job title reads head of the Religious Special Committee at DUP. (Surprise!)
Seriously guys, did you really think Korea would make gay marriage legal before many European countries? It’s not even legal in France for crying out loud.
The KT is just reporting about a prominent Korean which other media is also sharing. A few Koreans will discuss and debate whether Moon said what was reported or not but if the story was about a waygook most Koreans would just take it as fact.
Why not, they made changing your sex legal before
“Why not, they made changing your sex legal before”
I agree with this point. I have always said that Koreans are in some ways ahead of the rest of the world on some issues related to sexual minorities and in some ways behind. But, when Koreans make up their minds to make a change it can happen very quickly. I say the sooner someone gets the issue of gay marriage out in the open in Korea the faster things will change. I am optimistic that Koreans as a society, being fairly rationale people (though a bit emotional), will sort this out in a way that is fair.
The Iranians are far ahead of the rest of the world in recognizing gender reassignment. They’re so far ahead because in Iran homosexuality does not exist and there are no homosexuals. I suspect that there is similar findings in Korea.
“Why not, they made changing your sex legal before . . .”
I didn’t know Wangkon had a sex-change operation!
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Bobby, you seriously need to stop writing posts based on Korea Times. Moon Jae-in never took such a position. It was a DUP official Kim Jin-pyo who made that comment (because another DUP official was very much in favor of gay marriage!) Gay groups are demanding that MJI take a position on KJP’s statement.
While it was Kim Jinpyo who held the news conference and fielded questions, he was announcing an official decision made by DUP’s special committee on religion. It was officially Moon’s stance on the issues and DUP is sticking behind it
Moon campaign =/= DUP officialdom.
Fair enough and thanks for the input. I went with the Hahn Chae-yoon quote in the bottom half of the story as a confirmation of the writer’s assertion that Moon expressed this sentiment.
Most Koreans view sex changes and homosexuality differently. If you are a man and you wanna have sex with a men, then you should be a woman. Oddly enough, that just seems to make more sense to Koreans.
I predict… it will be awhile before Koreans allow gay marriage. Why? Because an agrarian family structure is still a living memory in Korea. Although nuclear families are getting increasingly pervasive in Korean society, it will take a while before the traditional family structure loses its hold on the collective Korean consciousness.
I, for one, do not believe one’s thoughts and beliefs on gay marriage to be a litmus test on one’s open mindedness or social progressiveness, regardless of what anybody tells me.
wangkon, see my comments above regarding Iranians and sex change. Koreans seem to have a similar mindset to Iranians in that homosexuality does not exist.
(On a side note, I’ve observed and told Korean university students, “in America, gay guys aren’t as gay as you guys.”)
Personally, I think America’s ideals of masculinity to be a little distorted. Back in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, men could wear wigs, silk stockings and perfume and still be considered perfectly masculine and perfectly hetrosexual.
If that’s distorted, I’m content with the distortion.
(Actually, in my side note, I made the remark when the young adult men would spoon each other while standing or talking to me. Now that you mention it, I found their sense of style too much, but I dismissed that as a generational difference.)
There’s such a thing? That’s wrong on so many levels.
What Koreans say out in the open and what they think are two different things. I think Koreans as a whole are a lot more tolerant of gays than they let on.
Those were aristocrats…and commoners made fun of them for it.
Sounds like you already have a groom in mind.
I recommend this article on Koreabang and netizen comments translated into English: http://www.koreabang.com/2012/stories/controversial-tv-priest-claims-korea-free-from-homosexuality.html
I always enjoy reading Koreabang – I think they do a great job.
As to which came first to Korea – Homosexuality or Christianity, I think everyone can answer that question and I will probably do an article on early homosexuality in Korea in the next couple of weeks or so.
They do. They do.
Really? I think it would be the other way round. It’s also amazing how ignorant Koreans are about famous gay people (Freddie Mercury, Elton John, etc.); they often have no idea they’re gay. When I told some students Lady Gaga was lesbian / bi they were shocked, like as if I had said she’s a paedophile or something.
That might be true. But, there is what Koreans think in public and larger society. The direction of larger society has a lot of sway with Koreans.
I understand, but I don’t like it when the homosexual community claim that people in history were gay when there is a lack of evidence or the evidence shows bisexuality or ambiguous sexuality. For example, Fredrick the Great, Alexander the Great, J. Edgar Hoover, etc.
92% of the population has generally unambiguous sexuality, 4% are bi and about 3-4% are exclusively homosexual.
Trying to find numbers is pointless. Also it will very from society to society. The number of twenty-something women in England who claim to be bisexual is much higher than in America, for instance.
Dude, you can’t expect to have an adult conversation with high school kids.
Yes, of course. That’s why it’s anyone’s guess whether same-sex marriage will become legalized here.
You seem to be a good lawyer and know a lot about appeals. On the legal forum of Attorney Online we started a discussion about what are appeals. Please join the discussion and express your opinion. Moreover you can write there articles and posts to Attorney Blog. If you know many good attorneys, you can invite them to submit their contacts to Attorney Directory. It is free and lifetime. If you know interesting legal news, you can also publish them.
You must log in to post a comment.