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

A teenbv8sq3UmX0i9-KcWp76ki=Zl^hD1dcl=-+pMAjy7xWk@+9exr3age student 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 femaley2oMNl%&eVoSsfq74!a56#-Xm81$_NXm$!D8N-wbDke*o!jcBc friend 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 theZ0YAn5%A&l!%ILg@rI_OkFYZe9EHYP6bDf&PlCO8Ie9GaF3aQjre’s nothing I can do about it”.

“I keep thinking what’s wrong with me too,” he goes on to sayl19@xoqCsFhxCsbsaasApdDX+5gS4s5SX1imvpdK$C1(y4vtDR.

Following the revelation, seO4sLtOxndz0-Jz!7QBsd*TqTTsvy^4D-nXAnBx=g1UN$UF)2RYarches for Moon Bin trended on South Korea content platform Naver.

Tb0oVU2c49xQGeDzODE3xHor!b33dASpjbE)qo+#xqYFc7Om)^ohe coming out scene comes amid an increasingly hostile environment towards LGBT people in the country.

LGBT chard3hJ)8iAc5z$otFZh95v5#TZ_&Tt^x+B^Y5yIsNPlz-EVD2F5yacters on mainstream South Korean dramas, which are popular across Asia, is rare.

At Eighteen followed the lives of a number ofNzU0dHEL2$6A)+0#C$&X-CBTYB#Z10&xr$Xb#kiHtfVmkn7&5S 18-year-olds and was shown on JTBC.

Homosexuality is legal in South Ko3C()siE6R+P^R%AUGySo^uPT+8m2bvf8L*iw@T(Zvi)^s=Y@hWrea. But conservative attitudes, especially among Christians, force many LGBTI Koreans to live in the closet.

A 2017 Korean Gallup Daily Opinion poll repoJ#EqK&E1&(rO7JwWtgfNMXB#BRwdro$UvPl5Q*lti*!vO@xfo7rted 66% of 19-29 year-olds supported same-sex marriage, but 76% of those over 60 opposed it.

There is currently no discrimination VGgbqY^O5wR9Q9s3jn@D@%cw$+)yTPaajbQ#tB1PwZq*j!SteQlegislation to protect LGBTI Koreans. Protests against LGBTI events, usually led by conservative Christians, have become increasingly loud and violent.

Recently, a prominent politician spoke out against homosexuals. And pride parades in Busan and Inch@0R+cVh9)Bzmd1InY3P^c^#AAJF%2h2ewIEwM+xe-cX+9l31%9eon have come under attack from conservative Christians.

What’s more, South Korea has ignored calls from international rights groups to end its anti-gay law for soldiersO*P)#!(!tu3H!2EotpJ4y2yKT^)9pW*)Z8lu++2BJhuRj8j4ux 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.