GOVT’S PLAN ON DIVERSE FORMS OF FAMILY

[Anchor Lead]

Under the Korean legal system, family is considered legitimate only when formed by marriage or blood relations, a definition that has been criticized as outdated and unrealistic. The government has finally presented a set of plans that recognizes diverse forms of family and allows parents to determine the last names of their children.

[Pkg]

Lee Seol-ah got married four months ago. She ended up signing an agreement with her husband when she visited the district office to report her marriage. That’s because if she wanted her children to have her last name, she had to file an application at the time of marriage registration.

[Soundbite] Lee Seol-ah(Seoul Resident) : "It didn't feel right to be forced into submitting this agreement in order to give my surname to my child."

She filed a Constitutional appeal on the Civil Code that gave priority to the father’s surname when naming a child. She decided to use the money she had saved for her wedding to cover the legal cost.

[Soundbite] "I believe our society has changed enough to have people question the rule of following only the father’s surname."

The government decided to revise the father’s surname priority law in the Civil Code and allow both parents to decide their children’s last name. Also, only the term “child” will be recorded in the birth certificate instead of the terms indicating whether a child was born out of wedlock or not. The government plans to revise the current laws that recognize family only as the relations formed by marriage, blood ties or adoption. That means that even unconventional families such as community families or cohabiting couples can be protected under the law as legitimate families. Also, the government decided to review the policy concerning babies born of unmarried mothers.

[Soundbite] Chung Young-ai(Minister of Gender Equality and Family) : "It was found that 55% of those in their 20s and 56% of those in their 30s answered that they could acknowledge childbirths out of wedlock, indicating that Korean society has become more accepting of children from unmarried parents."

The revisions would allow single fathers to register children’s births without the consent from their birth mothers. Plus, medical institutions will be designated as one of the mandatory childbirth reporting bodies to reduce incidences of unregistered children stemming from the parents’ failure to report childbirths.