Woman Living Over 20 Years with Two Resident Registration Numbers... Court Orders "Merge into One"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] There is a woman who has lived for over 20 years with two incomplete resident registration numbers: one without the last digits and another without registered family relations.

The court ruled that the local government has the obligation to issue her a proper 13-digit resident registration number with registered family relations.

According to the legal community on the 8th, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 14 (Chief Judge Sanghoon Lee) ruled in favor of Ms. A in a lawsuit against a district office head in Seoul, who had refused to assign a resident registration number and issue a resident ID card.

The court stated, "The defendant must accept the plaintiff's application, assign a resident registration number, and issue a resident ID card."

Ms. A was born in 1993 and, due to a mistake by the local chief during birth registration, did not receive the correct last digits of her resident registration number.

Four years later, when her mother remarried, a second birth registration was made under her stepfather’s surname, and she received a full 13-digit resident registration number. However, because she was already registered in her mother’s family register, her name could not be added to her stepfather’s family register.

From Ms. A’s perspective, she ended up with two incomplete resident registration numbers: one with only the front digits and another without family relations such as father or mother.

In 2018, Ms. A applied to have the last digits added to her first resident registration number and requested the collection of the resident ID card bearing the second resident registration number.

After her stepfather passed away in 2010, making family relation registration even more difficult, she sought at least a proper resident ID card reflecting her biological father’s surname.

However, the district office in charge refused, and Ms. A filed an administrative lawsuit. In court, Ms. A appealed, stating, "The local administrative office did not delete the resident registration number associated with the second surname, resulting in me having two identities."

The court acknowledged the fault of the local administrative office, stating, "Ms. A’s second surname was rejected by the court in the birth registration documents, so according to relevant laws, the resident registration should have been corrected or deleted, but this was not done."

Furthermore, the court pointed out, "Even if Ms. A had formed legal relations under the second surname, she should not bear disadvantages in her relationship with the administrative office managing the resident registration system."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.