BBC: Jang Yeong-jin's remarkable story as North Korea's only openly gay defector was covered by the international media after he published his autobiography. Now, almost a quarter of a century after fleeing the country, he tells the BBC that he plans to marry his American boyfriend.
Jang Yeong-jin had never found women attractive. But it wasn't until his wedding night, aged 27, that this made his life difficult.
Jang felt intensely uncomfortable. "I couldn't lay a finger on my wife," he recalls. Although the couple did eventually consummate their marriage, sex was rare. Four years later - his wife still not pregnant - one of Jang's brothers began to quiz him. Jang admitted he had never been aroused by the opposite sex, and his brother promptly sent him to a doctor.
"I went to so many hospitals in North Korea because we thought that I had some sort of physical problem."
It never occurred to Jang, or his family, that there could be another reason for his lack of interest.
Medical tests
"There is no concept of homosexuality in North Korea," he says. If someone is seen running to greet another same sex friend, it's assumed that's just because they have such a close friendship. In fact adults of the same sex often hold hands in the street, he says. "North Korea is a totalitarian society - we have lots of communal life so it's normal for us."
Jang now thinks his experience of being misunderstood was by no means unique. » | Julie Yoonnyung Lee, BBC Korean | Sunday, March 21, 2022
LGBT Rights in North Korea »
