Schoolboy played by K-Pop star comes out as gay in South Korean drama

A teenage student in a new South Korean drama series, At Eighteen, came outOcu9!bLRo8cb^&mifzJy21)Oei!UC&a5k7i7=%&zinTtVKr9mo as gay this month.

Jung Oh-je, played by Moon Bin of boy band Astro, tells a female friend heKi9I0T!xQVyAGozq0$1+xXMspSa75_*mts3Ae_o55#*)FWgQCU likes a male classmate.

“To be honest, it’s not a girl” he says.

“I’m not used to feeling this k%KfK4OokNlu#wQ4Jw(XeJB*[email protected]%8l0c)M&6yCOoind of emotion, but there’s nothing I can do about it”.

“I keep thinkingea_+SsdNpoH+ur!#3eB5mLqULHwSjSxugD)-EnoKfwgjALPP=q what’s wrong with me too,” he goes on to say.

Following the revelation, searches for Moon Bin trended on South Korea conten_iahVDcS^[email protected]*&W1QUg5t platform Naver.

The coming out scene comes amid an increasingli(*0he=qg$WJi$HRy_TPc1zpI&khf6pnp_3atLnodnyO6^3UpHy hostile environment towards LGBT people in the country.

LGBT characters on mainstream South Korean dramas, which are popular acrEcRD1W9Y7wP_lV^6-siU=m=GU1WFl0lB^Pik_G3cbNQn6TNetvoss Asia, is rare.

At Eighteen followed the lives of a number of 18-year-olds and wJeWY!HQPaRGM+hJ0kxBCXwrJ&i!Nw&NJvxw(D%cAf=dTRaOgjQas shown on JTBC.

Homosexuality is legal in South Korea. But conservative attitudes, especially among ChristiazknopKnSBg9X3xtT+jsASZSLJ4gla7mKY(J8x8H#ImijkKEh6sns, force many LGBTI Koreans to live in the closet.

A 2017 Korean Gallup Daily Opinion poll reported 66% of 19-29 year-olds supported same-sex marriage, but 76% of those k7y%[email protected]_AE0%aY9Gg#VFdSoew!MRFlp6L4KcXZAqz3e8n+_Wover 60 opposed it.

There is currently no discrimination legislation to protect LGBTI Koreans. Protests against LGBTI events, usually led by conservative nb#cJLF$xGjV&t0oI_fEH=0p_!ta%i_5s48_1ccqlMq=nT^^wcChristians, have become increasingly loud and violent.

Recently, a prominent politician spoke out against homosexuals. And pride p2NCjIj!m^kTo0^466f)akzA#[email protected]arades in Busan and Incheon have come under attack from conservative Christians.

What’s more, SoutH!ULQtlvFBsFg3uOnX=9&fGAyhVK%O^lWesdrjeO_=h-1+=9ZCh Korea has ignored calls from international rights groups to end its anti-gay law for soldiers in the military.

In 2017, the law made headlines after it emerged a senior general used gay dating apps to ensnare soldiers. His so-called ‘gay witch hunt’ reportedly revealed 50 soldiers.