South Korea
— The Supreme Court is scheduled to hold a
hearing next week on whether to legally recognize the new
sex of transgenders, court officials said today.
To decide whether the
change in gender needs to be reflected on official
documents, the court has invited a doctor experienced in
sex-change surgeries and a religious figure to the
hearing, set for this Thursday.
It would be the first
time for the high court to hold a hearing on the issue
and its decision will be used as a measuring stick in
future rulings, observers say.
"We will collect opinions
on the issue and examine the case," said a judge at the
Supreme Court.
In Korea, one's gender is
listed on family registers, an official document
containing names, dates of birth, addresses and other
personal information.
Transgenders registered
as the opposite sex face many difficulties in getting
married and obtaining jobs.
Three transgenders filed
final appeals to the Supreme Court against decisions by
district courts which had previously dismissed the
suit.
Korean law defines gender
based on sex chromosome and appearance.
However, lower courts
previously rendered several decisions in favor of
transgenders even though their chromosome stays the same
after sex-change surgeries.
Previous rulings are
divided with 15 of 26 cases approving the switch in 2005,
following 10 of 22 in 2004.
Opponents say human
gender is determined by a person's sex chromosome while
proponents put emphasis on gender roles in
society.
An increasing number of
transgenders in Korea appealed courts to let them change
their legal sex status following rulings in favor of a
well-known transgender in 2002.
The entertainer, Ha
Ri-su, was allowed by a district court to switch her sex
from male to female.
She also contributed to
changing people's prejudice against transsexuals in a
society steeped in Confucian values that still influence
attitudes toward family and sex.
Human rights groups
estimate the population of transgenders in Korea to be
between 4,000 and 10,000.
