Is the Gu Hara Act Still Stuck? Why It Hasn't Passed the National Assembly for 3 Years

No News Since the End of the 20th National Assembly Session and Bill Discard
Similar 'Gongmuwon Guhara Law' Already in Effect

The so-called 'Goo Hara Act,' which has drawn public attention, has failed to pass the National Assembly for three consecutive years. While the Public Officials Disaster Compensation Act and the Public Officials Pension Act, known as the 'Public Officials Goo Hara Act,' are already in effect, the Goo Hara Act has gone silent since it was discarded at the end of the last National Assembly session.

On the 14th, Mr. Kim Jong-seon, who had a legal dispute with his biological mother over compensation for his younger brother who went missing in a fishing boat sinking accident, held a press conference at the National Assembly demanding the prompt passage of the Goo Hara Act.

The late Kim Jong-an, Mr. Kim’s younger brother, went missing after boarding the Daeyangho No. 127 vessel on January 23, 2021. According to current law, when the missing period exceeds one month, survivor benefits and funeral expenses are paid. However, the biological mother, who remarried after leaving the siblings during their infancy, appeared and filed a lawsuit demanding the full compensation amount.

Mr. Kim said, "Can a person who abandoned her child as a baby, remarried, never contacted them, and then appeared after 54 years to claim compensation after the child’s death be called a mother?" He requested that inheritance rights be prohibited for parents who did not fulfill their child-rearing obligations.

On May 22, 2020, at the National Assembly Communication Office press conference room, the late Goo Hara's older brother, Ho-in (center), is urging the passage of the "Goo Hara Act."
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Goo Hara Act contains provisions that prevent parents from inheriting their children’s estate if they fail to fulfill their child-rearing duties.

Depending on the implementation method, there are two proposals: one by Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the Democratic Party and another submitted by the Ministry of Justice. Rep. Seo’s bill adds the failure of parents to fulfill support and child-rearing duties as grounds for disqualification from inheritance under the Civil Act, thereby depriving them of inheritance rights. The Ministry of Justice’s bill allows lawsuits to be filed to prevent inheritance from going to biological parents who did not fulfill their child-rearing duties. Ultimately, the difference lies in who bears the burden of proof?whether it is the parent or the child.

The discussion on amending the law began with the death of Goo Hara, a former member of the girl group Kara, in 2019. Her biological mother, who appeared after more than 20 years of absence following Goo’s runaway, demanded half of Goo’s inheritance.

Goo’s older brother, Goo Ho-in, urged the amendment of the Civil Act through the National Assembly’s public petition board in March 2020, stating that "the biological mother is not qualified to inherit Goo’s property" to prevent similar cases. Although this petition gained 100,000 signatures and public support, it was discarded at the end of the 21st National Assembly session.

Similar provisions are already in effect under the Public Officials Disaster Compensation Act and the Public Officials Pension Act, which passed the National Assembly plenary session in 2020.

These laws stipulate that if a public official or former public official who is eligible for disaster survivor benefits dies, and the parent responsible for child-rearing fails to fulfill this duty, all or part of the benefits may not be paid to that parent’s survivors. Because it denies parents who fail to fulfill child-rearing duties rights related to their child’s estate, it is similarly called the 'Public Officials Goo Hara Act.'