Korea's male-oriented family system will meet significant changes beginning Jan. 1 next year, following the controversial abolishment of the age-old patriarchal family headship known as "hoju."

The Supreme Court yesterday disclosed the finalized details of the new registration law, promulgated last month to replace the hoju system beginning in 2008.

Under the revised family registration law, each family member will be separated from hoju - the head of the family and usually the father -- through an individual register book. Children will no longer be obliged to go by the father's surname and can follow the mother's.

While the new system is expected to greatly enhance the right of Korean females, the public is bracing for confusion as it will have far-reaching influence on both family life and the nation's concept of a family.

The National Assembly passed the revision of the Civil Law last year after the Constitutional Court ruled the hoju system unconstitutional, citing violation of the right to gender equality.

The current hoju system places only a male member as the legal head of the family with all family members listed under the hoju. The status of each family member is defined in terms of his or her relationship to hoju.

When a husband dies, he is usually succeeded by his first son, not by his wife. When a daughter gets married, she is removed from her father's hojeok -- family register -- and transferred to her husband's.

Children are automatically added to the father's hojeok. Even when a couple divorces and the mother retains custody of children, the children keep the father's surname and remain in his hojeok unless he gives permission to transfer. A family without a son naturally means the end of a lineage.

Under the new system, the core concept of a hoju will be discarded, as will the hojeok.

Every family member will be registered under his or her own new individual record book containing information on the person's birth, death, marriage and adoption, along with basic information on his or her spouse, parents and children.

Instead of the current single hojeok certificate, which included various personal information, five different certificates will be issued by ward offices holding specified records.

The new registration system will allow offspring to use the name of the mother with the mutual agreement of both parents at the time of marriage registration.

It also will enable a child to change his or her surname in accordance with the stepfather with court permission, even without agreement from the biological father.

Also, extramarital offspring registered under the mother with the mother's family name will no longer be obliged to move to the father's registration or change his or her surname in accordance with the father.

The new measure will also better secure the right of adopted children.

Stepchildren will have the same legal rights as the stepfather's biological children, following the family name of the legal father and registered as such, when the mother and father are married for over one year.

A person adopted by a couple married for over three years will also have the same legal rights on condition that the biological parents agree. Anyone under the age of 15 will be eligible.

Under the old system, adopted children and stepchildren had no rights to inheritance and certain rituals, called jesa, of honoring deceased parents.

There will also be less concerns of excessive exposure of one's family background as the new family register will only hold information about birth, marriage and adoption.

For better management, the family register system will be classified as a national affair, authorized by the Supreme Court instead of local administrative bodies.

While majority of the public -- especially female right groups -- welcome the new measure, controversy is expected to remain as right-wingers led by Confucian scholars continue to oppose the abolishment of the traditional hoju system.

While the hoju system has been the center of criticism for its male-dominant and gender discriminating structure, proponents of the hoju system -- mainly conservative followers of Confucius -- argue that the system is a symbolic means of maintaining the integrity of the nation's traditional family values.

By Shin Hae-in

(hayney@heraldm.com)

2007.06.04