Rights watchdog says military's gay prohibition is unconstitutional

The human rights watchdog has submitted an opinion saying the military criminal code that punishes homosexuality in the military in unconstitutional, officials said Thursday.

The military criminal act, revised in 1962, prohibits same-sex relationships among military personnel, who are mostly male. The law calls for a maximum jail sentence of two years for anal intercourse and "indecent acts" between servicemen.

The act is under review in the Constitutional Court after the filing of 12 petitions against it.

The National Human Rights Commission said it has delivered its conclusion to the Constitutional Court, saying that the current code infringes upon gay soldiers' rights to equality, privacy and to choose sexual preferences.

The commission also said the clause uses abstract and ambiguous words without specifically prescribing elements of the crime, which goes against the principle of criminal law in which crimes must be defined with appropriate certainty and definiteness.

The watchdog submitted a similar opinion on the issue to the Constitutional Court in 2010.

Yonhap