1.01 Million Non-Relatives in Households Not Legally Recognized as Family
"Legislation on Life Partnership Law Needed Like France and Germany"
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Traditional views on family are changing. While the perception that marriage is essential has decreased, the proportion of people who believe that childbirth is possible without marriage has increased. As a result, discussions have emerged that diverse family forms, such as same-sex marriage, should be widely recognized beyond the 'normal family' centered family view.
According to the 'Single-Person Household Seen Through Statistics' data released by Statistics Korea on the 7th, the number of single-person households last year was 7,166,000, an increase of 522,000 households (7.9%) compared to the previous year. This means that 3 out of 10 households are single-person households. The perception that marriage is essential has also changed. Only 47.1% of people think 'one must get married,' falling below half, and the proportion of those who think 'it is possible to have children without marriage' reached 36.9%. Traditional family views centered on marriage and blood relations are changing.
Discussions that various family forms such as non-marriage and same-sex marriage should be recognized have continued. This stems from the awareness that the current situation, where families not composed of marriage, blood relations, or adoption are not protected by law, needs improvement. However, in September, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family expressed the opinion that "the current status should be maintained" regarding the amendment to the Framework Act on Healthy Families, which deletes the legal definition of family (the basic unit of society composed of marriage, blood relations, and adoption), and related discussions have not progressed. As a result, nearly twice as many non-relative households, which increased to about 470,000 in the last five years, have not been legally recognized as families. Last year, the number of non-relative household members surpassed 1,015,100 for the first time in history, exceeding one million.
There is also an analysis that the cause of the low birth rate, which is considered a challenge for Korean society to solve, is due to conservative family views. On the 4th, CNN mentioned Korea's conservative family views, stating that the birth rate will increase only if various family forms such as single-person households and same-sex couples are socially recognized. It pointed out that the 'Puritanical perception' is the cause of the low birth rate, as unmarried women are not provided with in vitro fertilization, and couples in de facto relationships cannot adopt.
Some argue that the Life Partnership Act, introduced in countries such as France and Germany, should be adopted. The proposal is to recognize communities living together without being bound by blood relations or marriage as families and place them under the protection of the law. If the Life Partnership Act is introduced, cohabitation and same-sex marriage relationships can also be recognized as partners. In 2014, Jin Sun-mi, then a member of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, pushed for this, but the bill was scrapped, and the legislation of the Life Partnership Act was stalled.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea also submitted an opinion to the National Assembly stating the need to introduce the Life Partnership Act. In April, the Human Rights Commission stated, "To guarantee the human rights of sexual minorities, the Life Partnership Act should be enacted to regulate new forms of partnership arising outside of marriage or blood relations." It added, "Concerns that enacting the Life Partnership Act would cause social confusion by breaking down traditional families and eliminating the positive functions families have performed are unfounded, as confirmed by overseas cases where the law has already been implemented."
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