South Korea Loosens Its Collar Social Norms Change as Liberal Ideas Are Embraced

By Anthony Faiola Washington Post Foreign Service

Tuesday, December 16, 2003; Page A20

SEOUL -- Under the glaring neon lights of a chic entertainment district, South Korea's newest and most unlikely teen idol sauntered down the busy streets clad in second-skin jeans and a tiger-patterned coat with fur fringe. "Oh, you're so pretty! We love you!" a group of star-struck adolescents gushed as she passed by. Lee Kyong Eun smiled and waved with the nonchalance of a woman used to stares. "Ten years ago, my country would never have allowed me to have this fame. The things they said to me on the street were far more, um, colorful than, 'You're pretty' or 'I love you,' " said the petite 28-year-old entertainer. The son of an office clerk, she had a sex-change operation in 1995 and took a woman's name. Now, Lee is known by her stage name, Ha Ri Su, taken from the English for "hot issue." Yet perhaps the most surprising thing about her success in one of Asia's most conservative societies is that while Ha Ri Su is hot in South Korea, she is not an issue. A government-run TV station broadcast a flattering four-day feature on her life that brought even Korean grandmothers to tears. Authorities allowed her to change her sex on official documents from male to female in a much-heralded media event. She has starred in a feature film about struggling Korean artists, playing the role of a transgendered woman, becoming a staple on variety shows and in fashion magazines. "South Korea entered the new millennium as a different, more open nation," Lee said, sipping a cup of traditional citron tea at a fashionable Seoul café. "Gay rights, transgender rights and women's rights -- things we would never have dealt with before -- are now open for debate. We are living in a changing society. I am proof of that." Tolerance and personal freedoms are coming in fits and starts, and South Korea remains a far less open society than the United States or Western Europe. But a decade and a half after the end of authoritarian rule in South Korea, analysts say this nation is witnessing a renaissance of progressive thought. The country is at the forefront of the debate over changing social norms now raging in other traditionally conservative Asian societies from China to Singapore. A number of factors are driving South Korea's social revolution. The change is in part an outcrop of greater freedoms following the end of authoritarian rule in 1987. The strengthening of democracy, analysts say, has lifted the strict military conventions that had long dominated society. But many observers also credit the rise of the Internet and today's university students, many of whom are strongly rejecting the conservative ideals of their former military rulers. While Lee is perhaps the most effervescent example of changing norms here, she is far from alone. Hong Suk Chon, an openly gay actor who was fired three years ago for publicly acknowledging his homosexuality, is back, starring in a new hit sitcom in the role of an openly gay man. Another popular TV drama, "Cat on the Rooftop," deals with unmarried people in their twenties living together in a country where the concept of premarital sex was long considered taboo. "We've got to rock the boat," said Lee Hye Young, an actress and singer who this month released an online version of a book in which she appears almost nude. "We are living in different times, and South Korea is catching up pretty quickly." Prada, Versace and other big fashion brands sponsored the book project, seeing it as a vehicle to reach fashionable, new-minded Koreans. Women's rights groups are pressing their case through increasingly provocative means. Smoking in public, for instance, is still considered highly offensive if done by a woman, although not if done by a man. Women who smoke in public risk being scolded by men or older women, who see such behavior as unfeminine. In response, a group of female university students in Seoul held a "smoke-in" this year and marched down the city's streets puffing for all the world to see. "Korea is the ultimate example of condensed growth. The country grew from ashes after the Korean War to the 12th-largest economy in the world in just half a century," said Kim Mun Cho, professor of sociology at Korea University. "The mind-set is on rapid change, and now, Korean society is breaking out of the old Confucian mold, especially in the area of culture." Some credit changing political tides as South Koreans elect increasingly progressive leaders. The current president, Roh Moo Hyun, is a longtime liberal and human rights lawyer. In a gesture of the new, open South Korea he hopes to create, he recently allowed regular tours of the Blue House, the fortified presidential compound long closed to the public. The Internet also plays a role in the change; more than 70 percent of homes now have high-speed Web access. But the momentum seems to come largely from young South Koreans able to take risks. In one recent performance piece, a acting troupe posed nude for painters as the audience watched. "This was unheard for South Koreans before," said Kwon Eun Jin, 35, one of several actresses in the performance. "We did get one old man who scolded us, and shouted at us from the audience to go put on some clothes. But the shows were sold out and got great reviews. People responded like adults, not with a reactionary sense that we were violating tradition." Lee Kyong Eun, born in the southern suburbs of Seoul, is reluctant to discuss the difficulties of growing up in a society in which homosexuality was simply not discussed and the issue of changing one's sex was even more taboo. Reportedly, Lee's father had great difficulty accepting his altered son after her operation. She secured minor film and TV roles as an extra during the 1990s. But her big break came in 2001, when she starred in a hugely popular cosmetics commercial. Her career exploded with singing and acting jobs. Lee became a leading figure in Korea's "Hanryu" movement -- a new wave of Korean entertainers becoming hugely popular throughout Asia. Lee has done commercials in Japan, and is set to act in a new drama in Taiwan. She may still get snickers from some passersby, but these days, she is more likely to be asked for her autograph. "We may have a long way to go, but we have come a long way already," she said. Special correspondent Joohee Cho contributed to this report. © 2003 The Washington Post Company