Regulations on Foreign Fathers' Surnames Pronounced Locally, Human Rights Commission Calls It a "Violation of Personal Rights"

National Human Rights Commission / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has determined that the current regulation, which requires Korean children with foreign fathers to adopt their father's surname based on the father's original local pronunciation, infringes on the child's personal rights.

On the 1st, the Human Rights Commission announced that it recommended the Chief of the Court Administration to amend the current regulation that mandates registering a child's surname according to the original local pronunciation of the foreign father's surname. According to the Commission, a Taiwanese man married to a Korean woman, Ms. A, has a surname pronounced as 'Ga' in Korean, but at the time of marriage registration, the official in charge registered him as 'Keo' following the relevant regulation of using the original local pronunciation. Consequently, the child born to them also received the surname 'Keo.' The petitioner complained that due to the surname, the child suffered from being teased by friends or receiving unwanted attention.

According to Supreme Court Family Relationship Registration Regulation No. 451, when recording foreign names in the family relationship register and registration forms, the names must be written according to the original local pronunciation. Accordingly, foreigners married to Koreans must register their surnames using the local pronunciation, and their children must inherit the surname in the original local pronunciation as well.

However, the Human Rights Commission judged that "the regulation requiring Korean children to be registered with the original local pronunciation of their foreign father's surname without exception, solely to match the father's surname, excessively restricts the child's personal rights and individual self-determination rights." It further recommended, "In light of the increasing number of multicultural families, such restrictions should be avoided by refraining from uniform original local pronunciation registration, and the regulation should be amended in a way that respects the victim's right to self-determination."

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