Nearly a decade has passed since then, yet the visibility of the transgender community is still precarious in many nations across the world. However, winds of change are blowing through South Korea. As public acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities gradually turn more favorable, infrastructural support for transgender individuals is also on the rise. In this month’s issue, The Granite Tower (GT) focuses on the Korea University (KU) Anam Hospital’s Gender Clinic – Korea’s first university- level clinic dedicated to transgender patients.

A transgender person is defined as someone whose gender identity or expression does not match the sex that they were assigned at birth. While there exist no official government-collected data, a conservative estimate by SBS suggests that the transgender population within South Korea was roughly 6000 in 2020, of which 517 have undergone legal gender transitions.

South Korea’s legal and administrative system has slowly adopted recognition of transgender individuals in the country. As of 2023, domestic courts have started accepting gender reassignment appeals for both surgical and nonsurgical transitions. However, medical support for the transgender community lags behind. Despite Korea being regarded as having one of the top medical systems in the world, individuals wishing to receive gender-related care had to rely on small, independently run clinics and different internet forums to gain information on treatment, according to the Hankook Ilbo. Thus, the KU Gender Clinic is a step towards abolishing these obstacles.

What is KU’s Gender Clinic?

KU’s Gender Clinic is the first gender- affirming care institution to be established as part of a university hospital. As a result, it covers a variety of professional treatments ranging from hormonal therapy and bottom surgery to intersex treatments. The clinic emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach, where different medical specialties including psychiatry, gynecology, general surgery, endocrinology, and plastic surgery collaborate to provide holistic treatment best fitting a patient’s needs. Besides gender-related medical services, the clinic also hosts “Anti-discrimination in the Hospital,” a series of lecture programs on transgender identity and acceptance in South Korea. The program is one example of how the clinic is more than just a medical provider, but an active community supporter.

The KU Gender Clinic was founded by Professor Hwang Na-Hyun (Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery), a plastic surgeon and member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). She shared in an interview with The Kyunghyang News that she first became interested in LGBTQ care after hearing the stories of a group of transgender individuals that her friend was interviewing. After training at the Gent University Hospital in Belgium, she has been a crucial figure in pushing for the establishment of the clinic at KU.

Professor Hwang said that her goals are for patients to be able to receive reliable and professional care domestically and not resort to treatment overseas. According to the clinic, most domestic patients receive Gender Affirming Surgery (GAS) in Thailand, which is perceived to be relatively affordable and abundant in medical service providers. However, these options have significant drawbacks, including unreliable medical agencies, a lack of aftercare options, language barriers, and the risk of complications. Her goals are therefore to improve medical accessibility and thus prevent patients from being forced to endure such dangers. To hear more about her experiences, in-depth, GT had a conversation with Professor Hwang herself.

GT: The Clinic recently passed its two- year anniversary. How has that experience been?

Professor Hwang: I think we’re slowly but surely reaching our vision for the clinic, but progress isn’t happening as fast as I would like to. We still need a lot more support. As of right now, all members in our Gender Team treat their patients on top of working in their own specialty, making it rather difficult to allocate enough time to one patient. Eventually I would like to focus my attention just on gender patients, but until then we’re doing our best to break into the LGBTQ+ community and get the word out that they have the option of getting treatment in Korea.

GT: Does the Clinic also host educational lectures on transgender identity?

Professor Hwang: Yes, we’ve been holding a monthly special lecture since January. The initial motive was to educate internal hospital staff members but has grown in scale since then. We are seeing attendance from a variety of different activists and organizations that we would not have even had the chance to meet otherwise. Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of KU students are aware that these programs exist, so we would love to see our students join as well because the more we can voice out, we can change a lot of things.

GT: What are your opinions on the current state of support for transgender people in Korea?

Professor Hwang: It’s far from being perfect. Korea in general is still quite bigoted towards social minorities, including transgender individuals. People tend to shut their ears and pretend that it’s an issue that does not concern them. The fact that an anti- discrimination bill, which would prevent courts, hospitals, and other institutions from discriminating against minorities has still not passed is deeply frustrating. If we were to do anything to better support transgender people, it would be codifying protection for minorities by law.

GT: Is there anything you wish to share with students of KU?

Professor Hwang: I wish more KU students understand that the world is much more diverse than what we are led to believe. Everybody’s different, and they all deserve to be accepted for who they are. I also hope that more students knew our clinic exists and, should they need gender-related consultation of any sort, they are more than welcome to visit.

Sitting across from Professor Hwang, it was evident that every member of the team was beyond passionate about promoting acceptance and diversity. The KU Gender Clinic is without a doubt a milestone for providing equitable medical healthcare for every man, woman, and person.