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| Staff Sergeant Byun Hui-su seen performing her job as a tank driver wanted to show the world that transgender soldiers are equally capable of fulfilling their duties. |
The Korean military plans to appeal a court ruling reinstating posthumously a transgender soldier who was discharged for having SRS last year.
South Korean army Sergeant Byun Hui-su filed paperwork to change her gender marker then underwent sexual alignment surgery while on leave.
She was discharged after returning to duty when she informed her superiors about her operation,
A district court ruled this month that the military unlawfully discriminated against the soldier by forcing her out last year for undergoing gender reassignment surgery.
In its Oct. 7 ruling, the Daejeon District Court ruled against the discharge, saying that Byun had already informed the army that she had registered her request to change her legal status as a woman with another local court. Her request for a legal gender change was approved less than a month after her discharge.
The military discharged her last year citing a law provision allowing it to dismiss personnel with physical or mental disabilities if those weren’t a result of combat or suffered in the line of duty, according to the AP.
Speaking about her decision to undergo surgery, she stated, "I thought I would finish serving in the army and then go through the transition surgery and then reenter the army as a female soldier. But my depression got too severe.", "I want to show everyone that I can also be one of the great soldiers who protect this country
Byun Hui-su was found dead at her home in March at age 23.
