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Transgender singer-actress Ha Ri-su officially changed her gender, Friday, with Incheon District Court accepting her appeal to change her entry in the family registry, saying she could fulfill the social role of a female, and transsexuals' pursuit of happiness should be protected. The court decision read that except for sex-determining chromosomes, she is physically a female, has lived as a woman, and therefore, it would be cruel to describer her as a male by law.
The Court also approved her application for a name change. Ha Ri-su is an entertainment name, and her birth name is Lee Kyung-up, a distinctly male name. When she receives a new ID card, it will bear her new gender as well as new name, Lee Kyung-eun. Ha says her family has been calling her Kyung-eun, a female form similar to Kyung-up, ever since she rediscovered her sexual identity.
Her agency TTM Entertainment said that whenever she has a chance, Ha always said she wanted to get married and have adopted children, and cried happy tears upon hearing the decision. Ha says she would never forget the day she officially became a woman. Ha's fans shared the emotion and celebrated the turning point, leaving congratulatory messages on her fan page on the Internet. Ha is the second Korean to change sex on family registry as a transsexual, after a precedent made in July.
(Park Don-kyu, coeur@chosun.com )
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