Fridae

South Korea’s communications regulatory body is looking into complaints by viewers who say they were offended by a lesbian kiss between two high school students on a popular South Korean TV drama.

The Korea Communications Standards Commission said it had received complaints about the scene aired during the February end episode of Seonam Girls High School Investigators.

"We will decide whether this is an issue after we look into it, and whether there is any violation of broadcast policy," the commission said in a statement, according to a report by the AFP news agency.

Koreans have a great appetite for soap operas with similar tragi-comic plotlines but are also know to be conservative looking upon same-sex relations with disdain and as a social taboo. Even portrayal of social issues such as teenage pregnancy is frowned upon.

Hence the "Seonam Girls High School Investigators" scene, the first of its kind between two female characters did cause something of a stir.

A spokesman for the JTBC cable channel, which produced the show, told AFP that the kiss had been included because it was "necessary to the plot."

"The homosexual students that we actually met with told us that they do receive unfair treatment at school because of their sexual orientation. We came to produce this drama in hopes that diversity will become accepted," the producer was quoted as saying.

Earlier TV serials that have chosen to portray same-sex relations have often been canned. In 2012, KBS Joy, an entertainment subsidiary of the national KBS TV discontinued a newly-launched talk show about the transgender community after just one broadcast because of an outcry from conservative groups, the AFP report said.

Last year South Korean produced music video by girl group SNH48 was banned in the country because it has prominent overtones of an implied lesbian relationship, alleged many gay media outlets.

Despite a recent increase in public awareness, South Korean gays, lesbians and transgender men and women face much difficulties, and many choose not to share their identity with others.

Male and female same-sex relations is legal in South Korea but anti-same-sex relations are heavily influenced by conservative religious groups with same-sex marriage or civil partnerships neither legal nor expected to be. There are also no legal protections against discrimination and no hate crimes legislation.