Starting Next Month, Children in Remarried Families to Be Listed as “Household Members” on Resident Registration Documents

[Financial News]  

It will become more difficult to determine whether a household is a remarried family simply by looking at a resident registration certificate. Starting October 29, children in remarried families will be listed as “household members” instead of “spouse’s children,” and the order in which family members appear on the document will also be revised.
However, applicants may still choose to have resident registration certificates or abstracts issued with detailed family relationships, as before.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and the Korean Institute for Healthy Family announced on the 9th that they had signed a memorandum of understanding at the Government Complex Seoul to promote the improved labeling system for resident registration certificates and abstracts. The revised Enforcement Decree of the Resident Registration Act will take effect on October 29. The three institutions plan to explain the changes through 245 Family Centers nationwide and other channels.
At present, resident registration certificates and abstracts display detailed family relationships based on the head of household.
In remarried families, labels such as “spouse’s child” or “stepfather/stepmother” have made it possible to determine from these documents alone that a person has remarried. Although resident registration certificates and abstracts are official documents used to prove an address, they are submitted for various administrative services, including welfare, education, and finance. As a result, concerns have been raised that sensitive family information could be unnecessarily exposed.
Under the revised enforcement decree, all family members under the Civil Act, except the head of household and the spouse, will be listed as “household members” in relation to the head of household. People who are not family members will be listed as “cohabitants.” This replaces the current system, which distinguishes among “child,” “spouse’s child,” “father,” “mother,” and “uncle,” with a simpler way of presenting family relationships.
The order in which family members are recorded on the certificate will also change. Currently, the document lists the head of household, the spouse, the head of household’s lineal ascendants and descendants, and then other members according to the order in which they were reported. As a result, a “spouse’s child” could be listed after the head of household’s child even if the former was older, making it possible to infer that the household was a remarried family based solely on the listing order. Going forward, the lineal ascendants and descendants of the head of household’s spouse will be included in the same priority group as those of the head of household.
An option will remain available for cases requiring confirmation of specific family relationships. If applicants request it, resident registration certificates and abstracts showing detailed family relationships can still be issued as before. Standard documents will use labels such as “household member,” while documents issued through the detailed option will show specific family relationships under the previous system.
Jang Heon-beom, director general of local administration at MOIS, said, “I hope the revisions to the Enforcement Decree of the Resident Registration Act, which will take effect on October 29, will be implemented smoothly in people’s daily lives and that diverse family forms, including remarried families, will be protected without discrimination or disadvantage.”


[email protected] Lee Bo-mi Reporter