Ministry of Gender Equality and Family: "De Facto Marriages and Cohabitation Not Recognized as Family"... Reversing Previous Position

Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kim Hyun-sook Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dong-hyun] The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has reversed its previous stance of recognizing de facto marriages and cohabiting households as legal families, stating that it will maintain the current position.

According to the office of Jeong Gyeong-hee of the People Power Party on the 24th, when the office recently inquired about opinions on the "Basic Act on Healthy Families Amendment Bill," which deletes the legal definition of family, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family responded that "it is necessary to maintain the current status."

The bill, proposed in November 2020 by Nam In-soon of the Democratic Party of Korea and others, aims to delete the clause defining family as a "unit formed by marriage, blood relation, or adoption" and to revise the term "healthy family" to "family."

In April last year, the Ministry announced the 4th Basic Plan on Healthy Families (2021?2025), which includes recognizing unmarried cohabiting couples and foster families due to child abuse as legal "families." The plan intended to delete the law clause that narrowly defines family and establish grounds to prevent discrimination based on family types.

However, under the new government, the Ministry reversed its position in the opinion submitted to Jeong's office, stating that the clause should remain unchanged. The Ministry explained the reason as "the need to specify the subjects of state protection and support in the law."

The Ministry also stated that the term "healthy family" will be maintained as is. Last year, the Ministry had announced plans to change the term "healthy family" in the Basic Act on Healthy Families to a value-neutral term. This was in response to the National Human Rights Commission's opinion that the term "healthy family" implies the concept of "unhealthy family," which contradicts the intended meaning.

However, the Ministry under the new government submitted the opinion that "'healthy family' expresses the policy goal to be pursued, and since the terms 'family' and 'household' are used interchangeably in daily life and law, it is necessary to maintain the current term."

Regarding this, a Ministry official said, "This does not mean that de facto marriages and cohabiting families are not recognized as policy targets," adding, "Rather, it is to avoid wasteful debates caused by the amendment to the Basic Act on Healthy Families and to expand practical support considering the rapidly changing social environment of family forms so that no blind spots arise." The official further stated, "Defining various family forms such as de facto marriages in the Basic Act on Healthy Families will be continuously reviewed based on social consensus."

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