6 out of 10 Citizens Say "Family Scope Should Expand to Include De Facto Marriages and Cohabitation without Marriage"
'Life Partner Act' Enshrining the Right to Form Diverse Family Types
Experts Say "Legal Protections Needed for Those Excluded from Traditional Marriage System"
As various forms of families have recently emerged, the concept of family is expanding beyond the traditional focus on marriage and blood relations. The photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. Photo by Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suwan] "Do you have to be blood-related to be called family?"
Office worker Kim (28) said this while reflecting a lot on family forms. Kim said, "There are various types of families in the world, but I think there is a problem with commonly viewing families formed by parents and children as the norm," adding, "Young people these days respect diversity such as being single or cohabiting. Seeing family only as those who share blood is a very outdated idea."
He continued, "Just looking around me, there are many cases where people have no choice but to give up benefits they should naturally enjoy, such as applying for public rental housing, jeonse (key money deposit) loans, and various family service discounts," and pointed out, "Although they are definitely family, they are legally unprotected and inevitably marginalized in everything. This seems very discriminatory."
Recently, as various forms of families have emerged and the concept of family has expanded beyond traditional marriage and blood relations, voices calling for expanding the legal definition of family are growing louder.
According to a survey, 6 out of 10 citizens support expanding the legal definition of family to include de facto marriages and unmarried cohabitation. Also, 7 out of 10 agree that regardless of marriage or blood relations, if people share livelihood and residence, they should be recognized as family.
According to the 'Public Opinion Survey on Family Diversity' conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in May on 1,500 general citizens aged 19 to 79 living in 17 cities and provinces nationwide, 70.5% of respondents answered that discrimination against non-legal marriages such as de facto marriages and unmarried cohabitation should be abolished.
In particular, 39% of respondents disagreed with limiting the family scope to legal marriage and blood relations. They believe the family scope should be expanded to include de facto marriages and unmarried cohabitation to embrace diverse families.
Under current law, family is defined as "spouse, direct blood relatives, and siblings" or "spouses of direct blood relatives living together, direct blood relatives of the spouse, and siblings of the spouse," so many cohabitants are unable to receive benefits.
This is why there are calls to break the existing framework of the so-called 'normal family' consisting of a typical nuclear family of mother, father, and children, and to eliminate discrimination.
Especially among young people in their 20s and 30s, marriage is increasingly seen as a personal choice rather than a social obligation, and many are choosing single-person households or non-blood-related communities.
According to the '2019 2nd Low Birthrate Awareness Survey' conducted by the Korea Population, Health and Welfare Association on 1,000 young people in their 20s under the theme of 'Marriage, Children, and Happiness of the Young Generation,' 47.3% responded that they have no intention or absolutely no intention to marry in the future. Positive opinions on being single or living alone were also recorded at 47.8%.
The young generation also felt the need to supplement Korea's family system. In this survey, 80.5% of respondents answered that "Korea's marriage system needs to be revised and supplemented." Among them, 60.3% supported same-sex marriage, and 69.1% supported the Life Partnership Act.
In other countries, various partnership relationships beyond traditional marriage are already legally recognized, such as France's 'Civil Solidarity Pact' (PACS), the United States' 'Domestic Partnership,' and Germany's 'Life Partnership' system.
Due to these changes, in Korea, a bill on the 'Life Partnership Act,' which guarantees the right to form diverse family types, reached just before being proposed in 2014 but was repeatedly blocked.
If the bill had passed, the person closest to you would become your legal guardian and legal representative, and things that were only possible between blood relatives or spouses would also be possible between partners. However, concerns that it would threaten the existing family system prevented the bill from even being proposed.
Jin Sunmi, then a member of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (now the Democratic Party of Korea), who promoted the 'Life Partnership Act,' said, "Family plays various roles such as economic support and welfare provision," adding, "However, some people want to marry but cannot due to high costs. The problem is not that these unmarried people do not want to marry, but that the 'system's delay' fails to keep up with social changes."
Rep. Jin emphasized, "When suddenly sick and going to the hospital, it is violence for a legal heir who is not a cohabitant living with me and with whom I have no interaction to make surgery decisions," and said, "I hope this law will make us think about who our truly precious family is."
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