The Supreme Court of South Korea ruled on Thursday in favor of a same-sex couple concerning the recognition of their union. The plaintiff’s same-sex partner, who had become an employed subscriber in 2016, submitted a notification of the plaintiff’s eligibility for dependent status in the National Health Insurance system. Attached was a personal guarantor’s certificate affirming their marital relationship as same-sex partners. The defendant’s employee accepted this notification and granted the plaintiff dependent status as of February 26, 2020. Subsequently, the defendant unilaterally revoked the plaintiff’s dependent status and returned the documents submitted with the notification, citing “failure to meet dependent recognition requirements” as the reason.

Article 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea stipulates that all citizens shall be equal before the law and that there shall be no discrimination in political, economic, social, or cultural life based on sex, religion, or social status. Furthermore, according to Article 9 of the Framework Act on Administrative Regulations, administrative agencies shall not discriminate against the people without reasonable cause.

The court believed that there is no justification to treat same-sex partners differently from those in a de facto marital relationship, considering that the reason the defendant recognizes a person in a de facto marital relationship as a dependent based on the economic community formed with the employed subscriber, not the partner’s gender. It also emphasized that recognizing same-sex partners as dependents does not undermine traditional marriage or family systems, nor does it jeopardize legal stability or the rights of third parties. Moreover, it concluded that such recognition would not unreasonably increase the number of dependents or significantly impact the financial integrity of the National Health Insurance and that the dependent system must adapt to diverse family structures and living situations.

Therefore, the court held that the defendant’s refusal to recognize the plaintiff, a same-sex partner, as a dependent while acknowledging a person in a de facto marital relationship with the employed subscriber as a dependent constitutes unjust discrimination without reasonable cause, thereby violating the constitutional principle of equality and dismissed the defendant’s appeal.

This ruling is a significant shift in South Korean legal protections for LGBTQI+ citizens.