South Korea court recognises legal status of same-sex couples for the first time; Details here

A court in South Korea has ruled that homosexual couples in the country are entitled to the same type of spousal coverage allowed under the national health insurance service as heterosexual couples. This marks the first time ever that the legal status of same-sex couples has been recognised in the nation.

The landmark ruling took place on Tuesday, February 21 by Seoul high court, which overturned a previous ruling by a lower court in January 2022 that restricted a gay couple’s petition. One partner was told that he was supposed to make separate health insurance payments. However, under South Korean law, a dependent is exempted from making health insurance payments if their spouse falls under certain employment conditions. But a lower court had dismissed the gay couple’s petition as it did not recognise the partners as spouses.




More than two dozen nations across the globe including Taiwan have legalised same-sex marriage but it still remains illegal in countries such as South Korea and Japan. The men involved in the landmark ruling in South Korea had married in a wedding ceremony in 2019 but same-sex marriage is still not recognised in the nation.

Welcoming the ruling, the plaintiff So Seong-wook also lauded the recognition of a “very obvious right” that was not provided. He sued the National Health Service (NHS) after he was denied coverage on his partner Kim Yongmin’s plan. They were granted coverage at first, but it was revoked as NHIS said that it was a mistake because they were a same-sex couple. According to the Yonhap news agency, Park Han-hee, a lawyer who represented the plaintiff said that the ruling was the court’s “first recognition of the legal status of a same-sex couple”.

FAQs:

1. What is same-sex marriage?
   Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage is a marriage between two people of the same sex.
2. How many nations have legalised same-sex marriage?
   29