The modern South Korean LGBT rights movement arose in the 1990s, with several small organizations seeking to combat sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination.
Early history
Although there is very little mention of homosexuality in Korean literature or traditional historical accounts, several members of nobility and Buddhist monks have been known to either profess their attraction to members of the same sex or else be actively involved with them. The earliest such recorded example might be that of King Hyegong, the 36th ruler of the Silla Dynasty who was killed at the age of 22 by his noblemen who revolted in protest of his "femininity".
King Mokjong (980-1009) and King Gongmin (1325–1374) of Goryeo are both on record as having kept several wonchung ("male lovers") in their courts as “little-brother attendants” (chajewhi) who served as sexual partners. After the death of his wife, King Gongmin even went so far as to create a ministry whose sole purpose was to seek out and recruit young men from all over the country to serve in his court. By contrast, Royal Noble Consort Sun, second consort to the then Joseon crown prince, was ejected from the palace and demoted to commoner status for having had sexual relations with one of her ladies maids.
Hwarang was the most overt form of same-sex relationships in ancient Korea. The sexual prowess of the hwarang were recorded in the Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, through pieces of Silla poetry such as Changipalang-ga (찬기파랑가), Mojugjilang-ga (모죽지랑가), and Ch'oyong-ga (처용가). During the Goryeo dynasty, same-sex sexual activity was not explicitly prohibited. During the Joseon Dynasty, however, Korean society experienced a draconian shift as the neo-Confucian elite and scholars declared homosexuality wicked and depraved, forcing homosexual activity to go underground and in secrecy.
Evidence of homosexual activities among the common people are harder to find as there are fewer records pertaining to them. Common people were less likely to be literate with writing and less likely to have their records preserved.
During the Joseon Era before the Japanese annexation there were travelling theater groups known as namsadang which included underaged males called midong (beautiful boys). The troupes provided "various types of entertainment, including band music, song, masked dance, circus, and puppet plays," sometimes with graphic representations of same-sex intercourse.
Recent history in South Korea
Some of these organizations also work to prevent the spread of AIDS-HIV. Among the active organizations are;
Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea
Chingusai
Korean Sexual-Minority Culture and Rights Center (KSCRC) Lesbian and Gay Alliance Against Discrimination in Korea (LGAAD Korea) Lesbian Counseling Center in S. Korea (Kirikiri) Beyond The Rainbow Foundation Parents and Families of LGBTAIQ People in Korea
One of the first legal victories of these organizations came in 2003, when the Korean National Human Rights Protection Committee formally advised the Korea's Youth Protection Committee to remove homophobic language from the Youth Protection Act of 1997, that had been used to justify the government harassment and censorship of LGBT South Korean film festivals and webpages.
In the Anti-discrimination Act introduced in 2007 by The National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea, the section prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation has been withdrawn, following outrages from conservative Christian organisations.
While there are no federal laws against LGBT discrimination, various municipalities such as Seoul and Jeju have enacted their own ordinances against it.
In March 2015, the Ministry of Education enacted a new set of rules prohibiting the teaching of homosexuality or any other non-normative sexual orientations in sex education curricula.