Developments in South Korea for LGBTQ Couples
Excellent news is breaking in South Korea this week for the country’s LGBTQ community. The Asian nation’s Supreme Court ruled that South Korea’s National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) is now legally required to extend spousal insurance benefits to gay couples. LGBTQ people in South Korea enjoy very few legal protections regarding discrimination or equality under law so this is a landslide win for queer South Koreans.
So Seong-wook and Kim Yong-min filed a lawsuit against the NHIS in 2021 after the organization withdrew So Seong-wook as Kim Yong-min’s legal dependent. As marriage equality does not legally exist in South Korea, the couple entered into a common-law union known as de-facto marriage, and when they did this, the NHIS initially approved So being listed as Kim’s legal dependent. They rescinded said approval just a few months later.
The 2021 case was unsuccessful as a lower court ruled that same-sex unions could not be afforded the same benefits as heterosexual married couples. An appeals court overturned the 2o21 decision in 2023, and this week, the Supreme Court in South Korea upheld that decision.
They ruled that rescinding So’s dependent status “discriminates against people in a de-facto marriage relationship without any rational reason, and is illegal as it violates the principle of equality under the Constitution.
“It is a violation of human dignity and value, the right to pursue happiness, freedom of privacy, and the right to equality before the law,” the judgment also stated.
As LGBTQ+ folks around South Korea celebrated the decision, many believe this is a step in the right direction towards marriage equality for the community. Despite the public sentiment, a poll performed by the Pew Research Center in 2023 showed that at that time, only 41% of South Koreans support same-sex marriage rights.
Despite the obvious battle that lies ahead for South Korea and its fight for equality, Amnesty International is calling the Supreme Court decision a “major milestone”.
As more work in the fight for LGBTQ rights in South Korea is clearly needed, watch this space as more information regarding this situation unfolds.
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Featured image: Image by Minwoo Park | REUTERS
