SEOUL, South Korea — In a landmark ruling for gay rights in South Korea, the country’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that same-sex couples qualify for the national health insurance’s dependent coverage, a decision that rights activists hoped could pave the way for legalizing same-sex marriage in the country.
The decision would allow same-sex couples in the country to register their partners as dependents in national health insurance coverage, as married couples or couples in a common-law marriage can. Numerous other benefits are denied to same-sex and other couples living outside the traditional norms of family in South Korea.
In its ruling Thursday, the country’s highest court ruled that denying a same-sex couple national health insurance dependent coverage “just because they are of the same sex” constitutes a serious discrimination that infringed upon citizens’ “dignity and values, their rights to pursue happiness, their freedom of privacy and their rights to be equally treated by the law.”
The plaintiff, So Seong-wook, filed the legal complaint in 2021. So wanted to register in the national health insurance program as a dependent of his partner, Kim Yong-min, arguing that their union should be treated as a common-law marriage. But South Korea’s health insurance service rejected his request, a decision later affirmed by a district court.
But in February 2023, an appeals court overturned the lower-court ruling. It said that although Kim and So’s union could not be considered a common-law marriage under South Korean laws, they should still qualify for the national health insurance’s dependent coverage.
In its final say on the case Thursday, the Supreme Court endorsed the appeals court ruling. It said that same-sex couples formed an “economic cohabitation tantamount to” married and common-law couples.
“I hope today’s ruling will serve as a steppingstone toward enabling sexual minorities to gain equality in the system of marriage,” So said Thursday.
Kim said while he describes himself as So’s “husband” and “companion,” he has never been able to enjoy those titles legally in South Korea.
“I am so happy that the court recognized some of that today,” he said.
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