North Korea's only openly gay fector: ''s a weird life' | North Korea | The Guardian

Contents:

• NORTH KOREA’S ‘ONLY OPENLY GAY FECTOR’ FDS LOVE
• ‘I ULD NOT EVEN DREAM’: WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY NORTH KOREA
• NORTH KOREA'S ONLY OPENLY GAY FECTOR: ''S A WEIRD LIFE'
• GAY LIFE NORTH KOREA

NORTH KOREA’S ‘ONLY OPENLY GAY FECTOR’ FDS LOVE

Image source, Oh HwanJang Yeong-j's remarkable story as North Korea's only openly gay fector was vered by the ternatnal media after he published his tobgraphy.

Medil tts "There is no ncept of homosexualy North Korea, " he says.

‘I ULD NOT EVEN DREAM’: WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY NORTH KOREA

Park Jeong-Won, a law profsor at Seoul's Kookm Universy, says that he is not aware of any explic North Korean law agast gay and lbian relatnships.

NORTH KOREA'S ONLY OPENLY GAY FECTOR: ''S A WEIRD LIFE'

But he adds that the state's laws agast extramaral relatns and breachg social mor would probably be -opted to prosecutg any gay sexual act. "When I asked them about homosexualy, they didn't tch on quickly so I had to expla to every sgle person, " Kim, profsor of North Korean Studi at Ewha Women's Universy, says. He turned the page to disver an article about gay men g out, wh a scene om an Amerin film showg two men kissg source, Chosun-ilboImage ptn, Jang's risky fectn route ma headl the SouthFally dawned on Jang that he, too, was gay.

"The revelatn transformed Jang's life, and he beme a regular at Seoul's gay bars. "I heard that there are many gay bars there. Gay North Korean fector speaks out.

GAY LIFE NORTH KOREA

He was driven to leave the North by the difficulti of livg there as a gay man. Jang did not hear the word “homosexual” for the first 37 years of his life, sayg he had no ncept of what meant, somethg not unual his native North Korea.

Readg a magaze a doctor’s surgery 1998, not long after he arrived South Korea, Jang saw an article about homosexualy. “That was the first time I knew what homosexualy was and I was really pleased, ” he says.

He has few iends and beg the only out gay fector the South has ma settlg twice as hard. By North Korean standards Jang Yeong-j had a normal start life: he joed the ary at 19, pleted 10 years of natnal service and married soon trapped his untry, which he has lled “one huge prison whout bars”, problems wh his marriage led him to fect to South was only when he crossed the borr and spent time a more open society did bee clear to him that he was homosexual, somethg he had never prevly had a name for. The 55-year-old is now the only openly gay North Korean fector livg the South.