MILITARY COURT CONVICTS SOLDIER OVER GAY SEX

A military court sentenced an army captain to a suspended prison term for having sex with a fellow male soldier in a ruling human rights groups criticized as regressive and intimidating. Kim Insook, lawyer for the captain, said her client was being punished for having consensual sex with his partner in a private space. She said the captain was briefly treated at a hospital for shock following his conviction. She said the military penal code, which makes homosexual activity punishable by up to two years in prison, was unconstitutional because it tramples on basic human rights and dignity. South Korea’s military, which doesn’t reveal how often it pursues cases against soldiers suspected of being gay, didn’t immediately make a statement. /