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🇰🇷 South Korea /Culture & Society

South Korean court rules foreign children born in country must have birth registration rights

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • South Korea's Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that failing to legally guarantee birth registration for foreign children born in the country is unconstitutional.
  • The court affirmed the universal right to birth registration for all children, regardless of their parents' nationality or legal status.
  • The ruling mandates the National Assembly to enact legislation to establish birth registration for foreign children born in South Korea.

In a landmark decision, South Korea's Constitutional Court has declared the lack of legal provisions for the birth registration of foreign children born within the country as unconstitutional. The court's unanimous ruling underscores the fundamental right of every child to have their birth officially recorded by the state, irrespective of their nationality or their parents' residency status.

The right to be registered at birth is an independent fundamental right.

— Constitutional Court of South KoreaDefining the scope of the right to birth registration.

The case was brought forth by a Vietnamese national, identified as 'A', and her child 'B', who was born in South Korea. Despite being born on South Korean soil, 'B' could not be registered due to the absence of a specific legal framework for foreign newborns. This situation prevented 'B' from accessing rights such as education, prompting the constitutional appeal.

The court asserted that the right to birth registration immediately upon birth is an independent fundamental right. "Considering that a child cannot choose the place, country, or parents they are born to, the state's official recording of the child's existence immediately upon birth serves as the minimum protection for the child as a human being," the ruling stated. The court also referenced the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's recommendation for a universal birth registration system in South Korea.

The state's official recording of the child's existence immediately upon birth serves as the minimum protection for the child as a human being.

— Constitutional Court of South KoreaJustification for the importance of birth registration.

Addressing concerns that such a system might legitimize undocumented immigration, the court clarified that universal birth registration for children born in Korea is intended to provide minimal protection and support during their residency, not to grant them South Korean nationality or legal residency status. The ruling places a legal and political obligation on the National Assembly to swiftly introduce legislation to rectify this constitutional deficiency.

The system is merely the starting point for providing minimal basic protection and support to foreign children born in our country during their residency, and does not in itself grant South Korean nationality or residency status.

— Constitutional Court of South KoreaClarification on the implications of universal birth registration.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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