Landmark ruling boosts same-sex couples' confidence in S. Korea

Same-sex couples in South Korea are expressing hope for the improvement of LGBTQ+ rights here, on the coattails of last week's Supreme Court ruling that recognized the legal rights of a same-sex couple for the first time ever.

In the landmark ruling, the country's top court ruled that the plaintiff, So Sung-wook, should be eligible for spousal coverage under the National Health Insurance Service subscription of his male partner, Kim Yong-min. The court stated in its ruling that same-sex couples are an "economic community akin to a conjugal partnership," stressing that excluding a subscriber's same-sex partner from state health insurance dependent coverage is discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The National Human Rights Commission Act bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Several same-sex couples have now said they wish to register their marriages with the authorities, even while being fully aware their applications will likely not be accepted. A 34-year-old man told a local media outlet that he and his partner intend to submit their marriage registration application next month, buoyed by the victory.

"I just hope to show that there are so many sexual minorities wishing to get married, and that this would help legalize same-sex marriage," he was quoted as saying.

The Supreme Court ruling could potentially be a watershed moment in the LGBTQ+ rights movement in South Korea, but it does not mean same-sex marriage will be legally recognized. The court did not address the legitimacy of same-sex marriage itself, and there are no legal grounds on which to recognize it as of yet.

According to the National Court Administration, 33 same-sex couples applied to get their marriages certified and had their applications rejected by a court between March 2022 and June this year. Their respective regional governments registered their applications to have them deliberated by the court, but none of the marriages have been certified so far.

Most of the same-sex couples who have applied to get married are aware of this, but said they did it anyway to demonstrate exercising their right to get married.

There have been some attempts by Korea's legislators to promote the legalization of same-sex marriage, namely bills proposed last year by minor opposition lawmakers Rep. Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party and then-Rep. Jang Hye-young of the Justice Party.

The gist of the bills was to have same-sex couples be eligible for the same legal protections provided to heterosexual couples. The proposal by Jang specifically was to revise the Civic Act to define marriage as matrimony between people of different or the same sex, which would effectively legalize same-sex marriage.

But the bills were not passed before the 22nd National Assembly kicked off this year, and the opposition they faced showed that legalizing same-sex marriage still remains a tall order in Korea. Conservative Christian groups are among the most vocal opponents of the LGBTQ+, which presents a significant hurdle for the community since, among those who identify as having a religion, Christians constitute the largest religious population here.

United Christian Churches of Korea, a coalition of Protestant churches, recently released a statement criticizing the Supreme Court ruling saying, "the conjugation of same-sex couples is fundamentally different from marriage between couples of different sexes."