An exceptional veteran affairs chief
Pi Woo-jin, tapped Thursday as the first woman to lead the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, is exceptional in many ways.
She retired as an army lieutenant-colonel in 2009 and her rank was lower than her predecessors who were usually lieutenant-generals or higher. She is a breast cancer survivor and had her breasts removed to make herself fit for pilot training. In 2005, she was forced to retire due to the surgical removal of her breasts but fought to get back in. She won the case and returned to the Army in 2008.
What also makes her name dance on many people’s lips is how she dealt with witnessing sexual discrimination in the military to root it out.
Two anecdotes are the most known.
The first incident happened in 1988 when she was an army captain. She was ordered to send a female soldier to a nightclub where a four-star commander was drinking.
“From what I heard from a colleague, female soldiers were often called in to serve drinks, sing and dance for him. I was even told to dress her in a cute civilian dress, not her uniform,” Pi recalled during a 2006 interview with Shin Donga, a monthly magazine.
Instead of obeying the order, Pi sent her junior colleague to the nightclub dressed in a combat uniform. Pi suffered a demotion for her actions.
In 2001, she was a witness in a sex- ual assault case involving a division commander and a female army officer. In an interview with Pressian, an online news outlet, Pi talked about how strongly she felt the need to reach out to media and talk publicly about the incident so she could protect the victim and all female soldiers. She did so and managed to draw public attention to sexual discrimination in the Korean military.
“What I hope is to create an environment where my junior female servicewomen can serve the country without discrimination. The military should be a defender of freedom and justice. I will continue my fight for the female soldiers,” she told Shin Donga.
Lim Tae-hoon, the chief of the Center for Military Human Rights Korea, is among those who have acknowledged her efforts.
“I was invited to her retirement ceremony. One of her male colleagues said: ‘I have a daughter. Thanks to Pi, I can tell her this world still has hope,” Lim wrote in a Huffington Post column published Thursday. Lim helped Pi when she fought to return to the Army. During her struggle with the Army, she wrote the book, “Female Soldiers Don’t like Chocolate,” detailing rampant sexual discrimination in the military.
Pi started her army career in 1979. She was one of the few to graduate from the elite Army Aviation School. After retirement, she became a human rights activist. Between 2015 and 2017, she served on the National Human Rights Commission as a committee member.
Pi joined President Moon Jae-in at the May 18 Gwangju Uprising commemoration ceremony to remember those who fought for democracy in 1980.