[News Today] SAME-SEX COUPLE RIGHTS ENDORSED

[LEAD]
As a first in Korea, the Grand Bench of the Supreme Court has granted health insurance dependent status to same-sex domestic partners, endorsing the first legal rights of a same-sex couple. The panel declared that denying this status based on sexual orientation is discriminatory and a serious violation of constitutional equality rights.


[Report]
Gay couple So Seong-wook and Kim Yong-min got married in 2019.

In the following year, Kim, covered by the employer-matched program, inquired the National Health Insurance Service if he could register So as a dependent after revealing that they were same sex partners.

The NHIS allowed the partner to be registered, but when it was reported by the media, the insurance corporation stripped So of spousal coverage, saying that he did not meet the dependent eligibility requirements.

However, So filed an administrative lawsuit that argued that denying dependent coverage just because they are of the same sex despite being in a common-law marriage runs counter to the insurance service's objective.

A district court dismissed the case but an appeals court later sided with So and ruled that the same sex partner was discriminated without a reasonable cause.

A majority of the Supreme Court justices also endorsed the appeals court ruling.

The Supreme Court said that not recognizing the same sex partner's dependent status is a discrimination based on one's sexual preference.

The nation's highest court added that the NHIS's action seriously violates their human dignity and values as well as their rights to pursue happiness and to be treated equally under the law.

However, four Justices opposed the decision by saying that the term 'spouse' is based on the premise of heterosexual marriage' and that "it is difficult to argue that the substantiality of marriage exists in a homosexual union.

So welcomed the decision, calling it the first recognition of 'same sex partnership' by the judiciary branch.

So Seong-wook/ Plaintiff
I hope this decision could become a stepping stone toward enabling sexual minorities to be treated equally in the system of marriage.

Meanwhile, conservative civic groups opposing same sex marriage and homosexuality denounced the ruling for disrupting the foundation of family system.