"Married to My Husband for 17 Years, but My Marriage Certificate Lists My Father-in-law"

JTBC 'Incident Commander' Report on July 31
Civil Servant's Mistake Lists Father-in-law as 'Husband' on Family Register
Record Corrected, but 'Administrative Correction' Note Remains on Document

A bizarre incident in which a woman was officially registered as married to her father-in-law due to a civil servant's mistake has come to light belatedly. The victim claims that she is still suffering from the related records even after 17 years.

JTBC's 'Incident Commander' reported on July 31 the story of a woman in her 40s, identified as Ms. A, who resides in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province. According to the broadcast, Ms. A is a North Korean defector from North Hamgyong Province who entered South Korea in 2002 and settled in Andong. She met her current husband in 2006, got married, and registered the marriage at the local township office in 2007, one year later.

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However, a few months later, Ms. A was shocked when she received a certified copy of her family register. Due to an administrative error, her spouse was listed as her father-in-law, not her husband, on the register. Ms. A immediately requested a correction, and on January 16, 2008, the record was officially amended to list her husband as her spouse.

However, the issue did not end there. The family relationship register still contains the phrase, "Administrative correction: changed spouse from father-in-law (Lee OO) to husband (Lee XX)." Ms. A requested that this phrase be deleted, but the city office refused, stating that "current laws do not allow for deletion."

Ms. A expressed her frustration, saying, "For as long as 10 months, my father-in-law technically had two wives. How can something as absurd as marrying a daughter-in-law to her father-in-law and creating a messed-up family record happen? Every time I have to get a certified copy, it makes me angry and upset." She added, "My son dreams of joining the National Intelligence Service, and I worry that this document might cause him problems."

In response, an official from the city office explained, "We consulted with the Ministry of Government Legislation, but it turns out there are no regulations that allow for rewriting the family register." The official continued, "It is certainly true that there was an administrative error. The civil servant involved has already retired, and we have issued new guidelines to ensure greater care in document preparation as a result of this incident." Regarding Ms. A's concern about her son's application to the National Intelligence Service, the official stated, "'An error and correction in the spouse section of the mother's family register' does not constitute grounds for disqualification."