'Resident registration number change should be allowed'

By Lee Kyung-min

The Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday that not allowing people to change their resident registration numbers was unconstitutional,.

The court said that the law on registration numbers infringes on people’s basic rights; but it ordered it to be maintained until the end of 2017 to prevent social confusion that may arise from sudden changes. It ordered the National Assembly to revise the rule by that time.

The law stipulates that local authorities should assign a resident registration number to each resident.

The enforcement ordinance states that changes can only be made in limited cases.

“An individual should be guaranteed to make autonomous decisions involving the use of their personal information, including when, to whom and by what extent such data can be disclosed,” the court said.

“The law disallows number changes without considering possible damage to people through the leak or misuse of the numbers. This is excessive infringement on an individual’s right to make decisions about personal information, guaranteed by the Constitution.”

The decision follows a petition by five people, including a man surnamed Kang, who were victims of a personal data leak in 2013 caused by SK Communications, operator of the Internet web portal Nate. They filed the petition after district offices rejected their request to issue new resident registration numbers, citing lack of relevant ordinances.

Kang earlier filed a petition with the Seoul Administrative Court, which refused to help him.

Earlier, in response to Kang’s claim, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said granting the change would cause social confusion and unnecessary spending.