ANNIVERSARY Is Korea ready to embrace diverse forms of family?

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By Lee Hyo-jin

• Published Oct 28, 2024 5:43 PM KST
• Updated Oct 29, 2024 4:51 PM KST

What does a family look like in today’s Korea? One might picture parents and children — perhaps one or two. But that is no longer the full story.

That traditional image of family is becoming increasingly outdated as more Koreans embrace nontraditional living arrangements amid evolving societal values. This shift is challenging long-held legal definitions of a family.

Recent government data shows a rise in nonmarital cohabitation, reflecting a broader trend among Koreans who view marriage as less of a prerequisite for forming a union.

According to Statistics Korea data released in July, the number of nonkin households reached 550,000 in 2023, more than double the 214,000 reported in 2015. That number is projected to rise to 800,000 by 2050, the stats agency data said.

Additionally, the number of individuals in these nontraditional family structures surpassed 1 million in 2021.

In contrast, the so-called traditional family model — composed of parents and children — is declining amid a sharp rise in single-person households. The proportion of four-person households is expected to fall from 14.1 percent in 2022 to 6.7 percent by 2052.

While Korea’s Civil Act currently limits the definition of family to married couples, blood ties and adoption, public opinion on the concept of family appears to be shifting.

A 2020 survey conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family found nearly 70 percent of respondents agreed that “sharing a livelihood and living space constitutes a family, regardless of marital status or blood relations.”

However, due to the lack of a supportive legal framework, nontraditional families, such as cohabiting heterosexual couples, individuals living with friends, older individuals living together after losing a spouse, or same-sex couples, fall outside the legal definition of family.

As a result, members of these unions are de facto treated as strangers in government documents and face marginalization in areas such as housing policies, taxation, health insurance and inheritance rights. Moreover, cohabiting partners cannot sign off on medical treatments for each other in emergencies.

Calls for change

There have been growing calls in Korea for official measures to include these individuals within the legal framework.

A 2023 study by Byun Soo-jeong, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, found that the legal system lags behind evolving societal views on family.

“We are witnessing a rapid shift in how people perceive family and partners, and in how they choose to live with others, yet the legal system is lagging behind these changes,” Byun said in the study.

“Currently, the only way for two adults to be officially recognized and protected within the legal system is through marriage registration. However, the necessity of marriage is weakening. We live in a society where marriage has become more difficult due to various circumstances, yet there is no legal protection for other forms of partnerships," she added.

Byun called for policies that support nonmarital cohabitation, pointing to France’s pacte civil de solidarite, or PACS, as an example. This system grants cohabiting couples similar support to married couples. She also cited several Japanese municipalities that have recognized civil partnerships since Tokyo’s Shibuya District first adopted the system in 2015.

Hwang Doo-young, author of the book "The Right Not to Be Lonely," advocates for a law that would recognize partners outside of blood relations and marriage as family. In his book, Hwang lays out how such a legally binding arrangement would provide certain benefits not extended to civil unions and establish mutual responsibilities among partners.

Hwang, who previously worked for liberal lawmaker Jin Sun-mi, helped draft the Life Partnership Relations Act in 2014 during the 19th National Assembly. However, Jin was unable to formally propose the bill due to strong opposition from conservative civic groups.

“So far, family policies in Korea have mostly focused on the population as a whole — whether it’s about boosting or reducing the fertility rate — rather than the happiness and rights of individuals,” Hwang told The Korea Times.

“The Life Partnership Relations Act, however, shifts the focus to how individuals actually want to create families and build their lives with their loving ones.”

Hwang emphasized that middle-aged and older adults would be the primary beneficiaries of the act.

While discussions about cohabiting unions often center on young couples who choose not to marry, they frequently overlook individuals who find themselves alone in their later stages of life, whether by choice or circumstance.

“These older adults are in dire need of companionship and care, but traditional solutions have typically involved indirect support from social workers or sending them to nursing homes. If a law were passed that actively supports individuals to care for one another, it would be a significant step forward in social welfare,” he said.

Yet he noted a positive shift in discussions over the past decade.

“A decade ago, we had projections indicating that society would need better measures to care for these individuals and prevent lonely deaths. Now, this has become a reality. More people are recognizing the need for more inclusive family policies beyond the current legal framework.”

Hwang, who believes the bill could become law in the near future, described it as "a barometer of whether Korea can take another step forward toward a mature democracy."

Hurdles ahead

In April 2023, Rep. Yong Hye-in of the liberal minor opposition Basic Income Party, along with 10 other lawmakers, proposed the Life Partnership Relations Act for the first time in the 21st National Assembly. However, after a single meeting at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee in June, the bill failed to gain traction.

According to transcripts from the committee’s session, conservative lawmakers argued that the legislation would pave the way for same-sex marriage, causing societal confusion and lowering the marriage rate.

Lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea, including Rep. Park Yong-jin, refuted that in OECD countries that recognize new forms of family, there has been no breakdown in social cohesion. He also argued that if discussions remain focused solely on same-sex marriage, progress on civil unions will be stalled.

Yong, reelected in April for the 22nd Assembly, plans to reintroduce the bill.

“We are currently gathering support from other lawmakers to co-propose the bill, and our aim is to submit it within this year,” a staff member at her office told The Korea Times.

“The act isn’t just focused on same-sex couples. It’s about embracing diverse forms of family structures,” the official said. “There are many caregiving relationships that exist outside of legal marriage, and this bill seeks to incorporate those people into the legal framework.”

However, the legislative effort could face hurdles without government support.

The Ministry of Justice, which oversaw Yong's bill in 2023, opposed it, citing a lack of social consensus. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which manages family-related policies, has been largely inactive under the conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration. Yoon, who pledged to abolish the family ministry during his presidential campaign, has left it without a leader since former Minister Kim Hyun-sook stepped down in February.

Under the previous administration in 2021, the family ministry laid out a five-year comprehensive plan to embrace diverse family forms, breaking away from the patriarchal, marriage-centered concept of family. However, these plans have seen little progress since the Yoon government took office in May 2022.