Transsexuals to be exempted from conscription

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will lift its requirement for
transsexuals to undergo group physical examinations before they are exempted from
conscription, an official said Thursday.

The examinations pose the risk of breaching the rights of those who have
undergone sex changes from women to men, Kim Duk-ki, a Military Manpower
Administration official, said.
"We will revise the law so that they will be exempted from the service without
having to undergo the physical examinations, which could embarrass them in open,"
Kim told reporters.
South Korea runs a compulsory military service in which all able-bodied men must
serve for at least two years. Those who have undergone sex change operations are
not subject to the law, but must nonetheless receive physical examinations.
Ten have received such examinations before being exempted since 2006, Kim said.
Those who went from being men to women through a medical operation are legally
female, and are thus also ineligible for armed service, he said.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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