This is the first time that a South Korean court legally recognizes a couple of the same sex.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
This is a historical first. In South Korea, the rights of a same -sex couple were recognized by a court on Tuesday, February 21. A decision welcomed by activists as an important victory for the rights of LGBT+people.
The case, which will now be brought before the Supreme Court, was started by So Seong-Wook and Kim Yong-Min, two men who had married in 2019 at a ceremony, however, having no Legal validity with regard to the South Korean law which does not recognize the marriages of people of the same sex.
In 2021, Mr. SO had attacked the country’s public health insurance service, National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), after stopping his partner, registered as a dependent person, NHIS Having discovered that Mr. So and Mr. Kim formed a couple of the same sex. A tribunal of a lower jurisdiction had given reason to the NHIS in 2022.
A decision which “allows you to hope”
But, in a major turnaround, the High Court of Seoul canceled this decision on Tuesday, ordering the health insurance service to restore Mr. Kim’s benefits. “Today, our rights are recognized within the legal system,” Kim said at the end of the hearing, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. “This represents a victory for all those who wish equality for same -sex couples.” The court did not provide detailed motivation to its decision. The NHIS entrusted the agency France-Presse which it was going to appeal.
“This judgment is important because it is the first decision, made by a court of any level whatsoever in South Korea, which legally recognizes same -sex couples,” observed Jang Boram d’Amnesty International in a press release. If South Korea still has a “long path [to go] to put an end to discrimination (…) This decision makes it possible to hope that prejudices can be overcome,” said Jang Boram.
Seoul does not penalize relationships between people of the same sex, but weddings are not recognized and a large number of LGBT+ people tend to live under radars. Activists have long insisted on the need for a law against discrimination based on sexual orientation, but no text has yet resulted in a consensus of South Korean parliamentarians.