Rights watchdog calls for discussion on gay marriage

Korea's human rights watchdog said Wednesday it was time for the country to discuss policy on same-sex marriage and come up with a social consensus on the issue. / Korea Times photo by Hong In-kee

By Kim Jae-heun

Korea's human rights watchdog said Wednesday it was time for the country to discuss policy on same-sex marriage and come up with a social consensus on the issue.

The stance is likely to bring fresh debate to the issue in Korea which is still conservative with regard to homosexuality

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) said that it had to dismiss a petition filed by a gay couple who were married in the U.K. and had requested the commission acknowledge their marital status here.

The NHRCK emphasized it dismissed the petition because of the limitations of the current law, saying the move didn't mean the commission opposed same-sex marriage.

“We dismissed it after concluding the nation needs a policy review on the issue,” the commission said.

“Korean courts do not recognize the marital status of same-sex couples under civil law. Thus, to give the foreign partner a qualification to stay here on a marriage visa, we need a legal change to the current definition of marriage as between a husband (man) and wife (woman), as well as a social consensus on the issue.”

The couple ― Englishman Simon Hunter-Williams and an unidentified Korean man ― tied the knot at Hunter-Williams' U.K. hometown of Birmingham in 2015 under the law there, and received a marriage certificate.

Two years later, the couple returned to Korea, where they first met, and the Englishman applied for an F-6 spousal visa. Although he had other options to earn his residency here, he insisted on the F-6 visa to claim his right to live here legally as a married person.

Last year, Hunter-Williams sent a petition to President Moon Jae-in requesting eligibility for international gay couples to apply for F-6 visas, but the Ministry of Justice issued a reply turning the request down. He then appealed to the commission.

“We don't have an official policy on gay marriage yet, but it is our basic stance that people should not be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation,” the commission said.

The NHRCK has been participating in the Seoul Queer Culture Festival in recent years.