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

A teenage student in[email protected])pjPLmTr7FeDZRZ$wtWbrB4iKIXL2GHBUdN- 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 friend he likes a male classmhNh)fwg*qJh([email protected]=BY6hvVlCqate.

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

“I’m not used to feeling this kind of emotion, but there’s9u5Jwxp1MBGSZuQXQdnKs!F-v89hdge%mdSCWEs7aT2S$y$oRC nothing I can do about it”.

“I keep thinking e)b2(^%B7Jq=l5FAKCm!or2w5EAK86V%9vnooIN#o6!qrX#Gd8what’s wrong with me too,” he goes on to say.

FCZvZQbWQVuZWoDRYKFg$U4xP4C)2F*XkQTDGl-IzTGwY3MtKIrollowing the revelation, searches for Moon Bin trended on South Korea content platform Naver.

T[email protected](frqjty(6JEb=#[email protected]%WPv+p0=SBdsdp&tHV8FtsBhe coming out scene comes amid an increasingly hostile environment towards LGBT people in the country.

LGBT characters on mainstreaZ%f%OVwODyc8Wp5^DIBaiCwto#XX7^[email protected]_&UrySl#ITnGiPjm South Korean dramas, which are popular across Asia, is rare.

At EightPIrpanY$mm1a3ESl([email protected](VHBn6eb-8vi-QS58HrikFGOpeen followed the lives of a number of 18-year-olds and was shown on JTBC.

Homosexuality is legal in South Korea. But conservative attitudes, especially among Christians, forc(DrlPpta+cqEeAVS73)%Xee+qUXmUT%0b9PIWKm9rXxDDKQGb*e many LGBTI Koreans to live in the closet.

A 2017 Korean Gallup Daily Opinion poll reported 66% of 19-29 year-oldJ7r1kL06s#NJbda-pz2(YKQ26PB67(C)F2X*seV1sZrOyO-fOas supported same-sex marriage, but 76% of those over 60 opposed it.

There is currently no discrimination legislation to protect LGBTI Koreans. Protests against LGBTI events, usually led by conservatifAmX*lm6X4gg^@[email protected]#jIPlmlX^EQr-x-mtgZas-ve Christians, have become increasingly loud and violent.

Recently, a prominent politician spoke out against homosexuals. And pride parades in Busan and In%tE$c5$r_GM5df(d-rk520&nj9crDl-zDcAM4OVUIA2fJOod*^cheon have come under attack from conservative Christians.

What’s more, South Korea has ignored calls from international rights groCJ^LYhYoUGBR7*@[email protected][email protected]#Uhhups 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.