LGBT rights in North Korea

LGBT rights in North Korea
North Korea
Same-sex sexual activity legal?	Not specifically outlawed
Gender identity/expression	Unknown
Military service	10-year celibacy required
Discrimination protections	None
Family rights
Recognition of relationships	No recognition of same-sex relationships
Adoption	–

Homosexuality and being openly transgender are not de jure illegal in North Korea, but the government does not recognize LGBT rights. According to the Korean Friendship Association, although gay people have not been subject to government-sanctioned oppression, "...the DPRK rejects many characteristics of the popular gay culture in the West, which many perceive to embrace consumerism, classism and promiscuity."

Criminal laws

The criminal code does not expressly prohibit private, noncommercial, adult and voluntary acts of homosexuality. The minimum age of consent for sexual conduct would appear to be sixteen years old, although the law seems to only directly apply to heterosexuality.

A de facto ban on homosexuality or non-conforming gender expression may come from a vaguely worded law that bans anything deemed by the government to be "against the socialist lifestyle." It has been reported by The Korea Times that North Korea has executed homosexuals under this law.

The Korean Friendship Association says that:

Due to tradition in Korean culture, it is not customary for individuals of any sexual orientation to engage in public displays of affection. As a country that has embraced science and rationalism, the DPRK recognizes that many individuals are born with homosexuality as a genetic trait and treats them with due respect. Homosexuals in the DPRK have never been subject to repression, as in many capitalist regimes around the world. However, North Koreans also place a lot of emphasis on social harmony and morals. Therefore, the DPRK rejects many characteristics of the popular gay culture in the West, which many perceive to embrace consumerism, classism and promiscuity.

Constitutional law

The Constitution of North Korea, last revised in 2013, guarantees its citizens many civil, cultural, economic and political rights, including "enjoy equal rights in all spheres of State and public activities". Yet, the government has not taken any action to address discrimination on account of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Family policy

In North Korea, the concept of homosexuality does not exist in the vast majority of people's minds as it is not often discussed in society. To those who study human sexual behaviour in the country, the official view is that homosexuality is a perversion of the bourgeoisie which only exists in a capitalist society, and it is a "likely assumption that almost all gay or lesbian people are conditioned or coerced into marriage and they live that way without ever understanding their conflicted feelings", according to GlobalGayz.com.

Same-sex marriage is not recognized in North Korea, and thus "almost all gay or lesbian people [in North Korea] are conditioned or coerced into [heterosexual] marriage and they live that way without ever understanding their conflicted feelings".

Since the 1990s, the North Korean government has reportedly been willing to "look the other way" with regards to premarital sex and adultery, although this degree of social liberalism does not seem to apply to LGBT people.

Media control and censorship

The state-controlled media in North Korea treats homosexuality as vice or bad habit practiced among foreign capitalists, especially Americans. Access to foreign press, publications, books, films, T.V. shows, computer software, webpages and other media is tightly controlled by the government.

No positive depiction of LGBT people or endorsement of LGBT rights is permitted. Voice of America's Korean Service has stated that any public discussion about homosexuality is highly taboo, if not illegal.

Military

Military law mandates celibacy during the first 10 years of service for all enlistees. Reportedly, male soldiers regularly break this rule, by engaging in casual heterosexual and homosexual affairs; these homosexual relationships have been described as situational sexual behavior rather than a sexual orientation.

Politics and propaganda

North Korea opposed both the UN declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity, which called for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality, and the exclusion of sexual orientation as discriminatory grounds for execution. Its precise reasons for doing so remain unclear.

North Korean propaganda, much like the state-controlled media, almost always depicts homosexuality as a characteristic of western (and particularly American) moral degeneracy. In the short story "Snowstorm in Pyongyang" (평양에서 눈보라, published 2000), captured crewmen of the USS Pueblo implore their North Korean captors to allow them to engage in gay sex.

"Captain, sir, homosexuality is how I fulfill myself as a person. Since it does no harm to your esteemed government or esteemed nation, it is unfair for Jonathan and me to be prevented from doing something that is part of our private life."
[The North Korean soldier responds,] "This is the territory of our republic, where people enjoy lives befitting human beings. On this soil none of that sort of activity will be tolerated."

— "Snowstorm in Pyongyang", 2000

In 2014, after the United Nations Human Rights Council published a report on human rights in North Korea advising a referral to the International Criminal Court, the official Korean Central News Agency responded with an article that included homophobic insults against report author Michael Kirby, who is openly gay. The KCNA's article went on to state that gay marriage "can never be found in the DPRK boasting of the sound mentality and good morals, and homosexuality has become a target of public criticism even in Western countries, too. In fact, it is ridiculous for such gay [sic] to sponsor dealing with others' human rights issue."

Culture

Defectors have testified that most North Koreans are unaware that any sexual orientation other than heterosexual exists. Most homosexuals only realized after they defected that the idea of homosexuality exists.

Summary table

Same-sex sexual activity legal	(No record of anti-gay laws in history)
Equal age of consent	(No record of age of discrepancy in the law.)
Anti-discrimination laws in employment only
Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services
Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech)
Same-sex marriages
Recognition of same-sex couples
Step-child adoption by same-sex couples
Joint adoption by same-sex couples
Gays and lesbians allowed to serve openly in the military	(Due to Conscription)
Right to change legal gender
Access to IVF for lesbians
Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples
MSMs allowed to donate blood

See also

• Homosexuality laws of the world
• Human rights in North Korea
• LGBT rights in Asia
• LGBT rights in South Korea
• LGBT history in South Korea