제 남편 히로시와 함께 주한외교단 초청 리셉션에서 문재인 대통령과 영부인을 뵙게 되어 커다란 영광이었습니다. 문재인 대통령님 덕분에 한국에서 처음으로 이것이 가능할 수 있었습니다. @moonriver365
— Philip Turner (@PTurnerNZ) October 19, 2019
@TheBlueHouseKR @mofa_kr @MFATgovtNZ
#주한뉴질랜드대사관 pic.twitter.com/7ril6678cm
A great honor to meet President Moon and First Lady today with my husband Hiroshi. Thanks to President Moon first time this has been possible in Korea.” This Twitter message was posted on Oct. 18 by Philip Turner, New Zealand’s ambassador to South Korea.
Images in the media showing Turner becoming the first diplomat in South Korea to visit the Blue House and meet President Moon Jae-in with a same-sex spouse drew an outpouring of support from the local LGBT community. But some critics also said it invited mockery of the current South Korean political situation where even the ruling party refuses to discuss anti-discrimination legislation.
According to accounts from government and Blue House insiders on Oct. 21, Turner’s husband Hiroshi Ikeda attended an an invitational reception for diplomats at the Blue House Korea on Oct. 18, becoming the first same-sex partner to be recognized as a spouse at an official function. In the past, same-sex spouses of diplomats were not recognized as spouses according to the rules for issuance and management of identification for employees of overseas diplomatic offices in South Korea.
Even in cases of lawful marriages in countries where same-sex marriage is recognized, the status of spouse was not granted in cases deemed to “be in contravention of the laws of South Korea or in violation of its virtuous customs and other social order.” As a result, same-sex spouses of diplomats have had to enter South Korea under status akin to “employees.” In the case of Turner and his husband, however, the government altered the guidelines to belatedly grant Ikeda the official status of spouse.
Ryu Min-hee, an attorney with the Korean Network for Partnership and Marriage Rights of LGBT, called the government’s forward-thinking approach “late in coming but welcome.” “Beyond being simply a matter of diplomatic protocol, this may also have been a reflection of [acknowledgement of] same-sex marriage being an inexorable global trend,” she suggested.
But while Turner was sharing his happiness with the South Korean government on Twitter, a very different landscape was unfolding in central Seoul the same day on Oct. 19. In front of the Seoul Finance Center building in Seoul’s Jung (Central) District that day, a “2019 equality parade” was being held by the group Solidarity to Enact Anti-Discrimination Legislation to call for the enactment of anti-discrimination laws to eliminate hatred against LGBT and disabled persons, migrant women, and others.
Members of human rights groups complained that while the Moon administration had shown an “improved perspective” in terms of diplomatic relations, the human rights of LGBT people were still going unrecognized in South Korea. Moon admin. has yet to enact anti-discrimination legislation