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

A teenage studiw(yd#+sU+4!KICy1TEsQY6yr*4$UXxSyIp^K1_YGi(EUes6$fent in a new South Korean drama series, At Eighteen, came out as gay this month.

Jung Oh-je, played by Moon Bin of boy band Astro, tells a female frieWQJ2iKXS-9IrH8u2ulffmK52kX8ZmnrLKu%T^-eHx-q0bl4_@nnd he likes a male classmate.

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

“I’m not used to feeling this kind of emotion, but there’s not0bsanpv6f44*21g-&HuuB)giPB3y5p!p86G$m^A+N$bqW7br%Yhing I can do about it”.

“I keepR%7YebnkfMMl5EQFu-cCS$#px^qZj^K@T-cumDU+2ZPxJt^8)C thinking what’s wrong with me too,” he goes on to say.

Following the revelation, searches for Moon Bin trendmP8wwmuIemwweuXUdE#cE0L%-)7HH)!acY=_cQOm+N8(J&E-0(ed on South Korea content platform Naver.

The coming out scene comW=NWcMk4m1s_Gvko(n+FEel1#csu+Y-SeZ34JbHp*KDo6Td*Fres amid an increasingly hostile environment towards LGBT people in the country.

LGBT characters on mainstrrqNZs6(R1^3i!yX=IviokF)2GOgOsxK)+BCskdTBK$&Xxku%w7eam South Korean dramas, which are popular across Asia, is rare.

At EigZ03wu*J-*^V$*F!gGf##Y0ar^g=KCHaz7ELV@baFn*hZ6o=z7@hteen followed the lives of a number of 18-year-olds and was shown on JTBC.

HomoLE43H*9h#JmEJRfI59+MiNz($%Y4)xy5@r3tDV7jVH_9klbmsGsexuality is legal in South Korea. But conservative attitudes, especially among Christians, 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-^+Bb4yfrg0bTXsIhkiY%lTXs6#rpR2UsW*4yj%gG%X+O0h%qn6sex marriage, but 76% of those over 60 opposed it.

There fw1)gL6-iSVemYZelMZCK@=WM@F6tL!ufng$14EbX!dI6R6$-mis currently no discrimination legislation to protect LGBTI Koreans. Protests against LGBTI events, usually led by conservative Christians, have become increasingly loud and violent.

Recently, a prominent poli^J0Epk%^cGSqtR9@)Jh1=-$NIjr9i_SpUslQzQF%F5^H7G_(WEtician spoke out against homosexuals. And pride parades in Busan and Incheon have come under attack from conservative Christians.

What’s more, South Korea has ignored calls from international rights groJ8)BA0(m3J9Fdq=aiBd+TI2t6(a%b9m_X!^zTHw8K)2+t7dFYiups 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.