'Birth Notification System' Passes Judiciary Committee... Discussion on 'Protected Birth System' to Continue

Ruling Party and Government Operate Intensive Reporting Period for Unregistered Birth Children
Create Private TF to Thoroughly Review Survey Results

The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee held its first subcommittee meeting on the 28th and approved the so-called 'Birth Notification System' bill. With no opposition between the ruling and opposition parties, the bill is expected to be passed at the plenary session on the 30th.

On the same day, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee approved a partial amendment to the Act on the Registration of Family Relations, proposed by Kim Mi-ae of the People Power Party and Shin Hyun-young of the Democratic Party. Both parties agreed to expedite the bill's processing following the discovery of the bodies of two infants, whose births had not been registered, in a refrigerator in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on the 21st, known as the 'Suwon Refrigerator Infant Corpse' case. The Birth Notification System mandates medical institutions to report the birth of a child to local governments through the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. Under current law, if the person responsible for birth registration, such as the parents, fails to register the newborn, the infant is not protected by law.

Jung Jeom-sik, the People Power Party's secretary of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, explained to reporters after the subcommittee meeting, "The amendment requires medical personnel to record birth information necessary for birth registration in the medical records, and the head of the medical institution must notify the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The Review and Assessment Service must then notify the head of the town, township, or neighborhood office."

On the morning of the 28th, at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's Bill Review Subcommittee 1 held at the National Assembly, Chairman So Byeong-cheol is striking the gavel. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Committee members agreed that since the implementation of the Birth Notification System may increase out-of-hospital births, a Protective Birth System should be introduced within one year from the bill's promulgation.

The People Power Party and the government also held a morning meeting on child protection system improvement and proposed introducing the Protective Birth System, which would allow mothers to give birth anonymously while still receiving state protection, alongside the Birth Notification System. However, due to strong opposition, the Protective Birth System is expected to be discussed further in the future. Some opposition party members expressed concerns about potential side effects encouraging anonymous births. Park Dae-chul, the People Power Party's Policy Committee Chair, said at a briefing after the meeting, "The related law is being discussed in the Health and Welfare Committee, and we ask for active cooperation from the opposition."

Additionally, the ruling party and government agreed at the meeting to operate a focused reporting period for unregistered births in the second half of this year. Those who voluntarily report and register unregistered children will receive reduced penalties. The Ministry of Health and Welfare recently began a full survey using temporary newborn numbers for 2,123 unregistered children identified during an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection. Besides the full survey, the ruling party and government plan to operate a focused reporting period to identify unregistered births and reduce punishments for voluntary reporting.

The ruling party and government also plan to form a private task force to continue discussions on the Ministry of Health and Welfare's full survey. Chair Park stated, "We will analyze the full survey results in detail and continue to develop better policy measures through the task force. Additionally, we will conduct meetings and surveys with pregnant women to comprehensively and specifically understand the current necessary systems and support."

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