Administrative Court: "Passport Romanized Names Can Differ from Ministry Guidelines"

"Refusing an Application Solely for Not Complying with Official Romanization Rules Is Unlawful"

A court has ruled that it is unlawful for authorities to reject an application to change the Romanized spelling of a passport holder's name on the grounds that the requested spelling does not comply with the Romanization rules announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

According to the legal community on April 21, the 12th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (presiding judge Kang Jaewon) ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in February in a lawsuit filed by the parents of a five-year-old girl, A, who acted as her legal representatives, against the Minister of Foreign Affairs to overturn the decision not to allow a change in the Romanized name on her passport. In 2023, A's parents applied for a passport with the syllable 'Tae' in her name Romanized as 'TA', but the local government head in charge issued the passport with 'TAE', claiming that 'TA' did not comply with the Romanization rules.

The current Enforcement Rules of the Passport Act stipulate that the Romanized name on a passport must be based on the Korean name registered in the family relations register, and transcribed syllable by syllable according to the method specified and announced by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. However, if the Korean name has a foreign-style name with matching pronunciation, the foreign-style name may be used as the English name on the passport.

The court found that, even if the Romanized name requested for change differs to some extent from the regulations of the Ministry's official "Romanization of Korean" notice, a change cannot be refused unless there are special circumstances?such as the information undermining the credibility of Korean passports abroad or being clearly used for criminal purposes. The court further stated that strictly applying the Romanization rules to names in principle undermines the intent of the regulation that allows for changes to Romanized names.

The court stated, "The Ministry's notice is, after all, merely a guideline without binding external force," and determined that even if the English name does not exactly match the Korean name, it does not immediately cause difficulties in immigration inspection and management. The court also noted that there are countless English words, such as 'cap' and 'nap', where the vowel 'A' is pronounced as 'ae', and thus it is difficult to find an objective and reasonable reason to restrict the change on the grounds that the Romanization 'TA' does not match the pronunciation of 'Tae'.