The Embassy Participates at Seoul and Incheon Pride Events
Embassy Seoul supports LGBTQI+ community in Seoul and Incheon
The Embassy continues to prioritise the rights of the LGBTQI+ community in Korea and, together with likeminded Embassies supported the Incheon Pride Festival in September 2023 and the Seoul Pride Expo in November 2023.
LGBTQI+ rights form a central pillar of Ireland’s human rights efforts in Korea, and while some progress is being made with legislation outlawing discrimination on the grounds of gender or sexual orientation in Korea, progress has slowed and there is still a lot of work to do to change public attitudes. More conservative sections of Korean society still express opposition to homosexuality, gender fluidity, or transgenderism, and are often well-organised in protest.
Many within the LGBTQI+ community take inspiration from Ireland’s relatively quick journey from a conservative society and restrictive legal framework to a country of tolerance and acceptance. It is also an opportunity to highlight Ireland marriage referendum, the first country in the world to legalise same sex marriage by public referendum in 2015.
Both Incheon and Seoul were great days of celebration and provided a safe space in which the Korean LGBTQI+ community could be together and be themselves.