▲ Transgender pride flag

Recently, because of the news of a transgender student who was accepted to Sookmyeong Women's University and the disqualification of the transgender Sergent Byeon Hee-soo, the transgender issue has emerged once again. Disgusting statements because of ignorance about transgender people are often seen on social media, and conflicts between transgender people and transphobic people are growing. Against this backdrop, the attention of many people is being paid to Park Han-hee, the first transgender lawyer in South Korea.

▲ Transgender soldier, Byeon Hee-soo

First, a transgender is a person whose sex and mental gender do not match. Transgender people in the above two cases were born male and considered themselves female and had sex-change surgery at their own choice. However, whether they want or do not want to have surgery, there are personal differences, and there are transgenders who do not want or cannot have surgery. Lawyer Park Han-hee is a case in point, but she has been regularly injected with hormones, although she did not undergo sexual purification surgery because she did not want the surgery herself.

▲ The first transgender lawyer in South Korea, Park Han-hee

Lawyer Park Han-hee majored in mechanical engineering and worked for a construction company before graduating from Seoul National University's Law School and passing the bar examination with the highest rating. It was because of her gender identity that changed her job as a lawyer, and now, she is working at the Public Interest Human Rights Lawyers' Association, "Law that Creates Hope." Lawyer Park Han-hee is said to be trying to get legal gender corrections without surgery to protect transgender people in South Korea. Unlike foreign laws that respect genderqueers, South Korea does not legally recognize gender identity unless a person spends a lot of money to undergo surgery. In this regard, Lawyer Park Han-hee has raised the issue and is trying to make a better world for transgender people and other sexual minorities.

In South Korea, sex minorities are suffering from ignorance and prejudice However, there are people who are exerting efforts, trying to change the world in a better way. Lawyer Park Han-hee's effort will also be a great help to many, and it will serve as a step to make the world we live in a better one.

February 2nd, 2020

by Lee Yeonseo