A lawsuit filed by a prominent gay film director and his partner seeking legal status for their same-sex marriage has been rejected by a South Korean district court in the first case of its kind.
Ryu’s legal team had always acknowledged that the likelihood of a district court judge declaring same-sex marriage legal was extremely slim.
But gay rights campaigners were buoyed by the US supreme court ruling in June last year that made same-sex marriage legal throughout the US.
While homosexuality is legal in South Korea, same-sex marriage is not recognised and the country remains deeply conservative about matters of sexual identity.