Gov't mulling to ease cousin marriage bans

The Justice Ministry stated Wednesday that a revision regarding to relax the restrictions on consanguineous marriage from third cousins to cousins has not yet been decided. [YONHAP]

The Ministry of Justice said Wednesday that it had yet to decide on whether to relax restrictions on consanguineous marriage from third cousins to cousins.

It said it is “carefully considering the matter based on expert research services, including a basic survey on consanguineous marriage in various countries.”

In Korea, marriages between third cousins or closer relatives are prohibited. Such marriages, when they do occur, can be legally nullified.

On Oct. 27, 2022, the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled that banning marriages between third cousins or closer relatives is constitutional. However, nullifying existing marriages under the same condition, as stated in the second clause of the Civil Act's Article 815, was unconstitutional.

The court ruled that invalidating such cases violates the freedom of marriage.

The court's ruling raised questions about the scope of marriage prohibitions within the family and the right to annul such cases.

Following the ruling, the court set an end-of-year deadline to amend the law.

If no amendment is made, the clause annulling marriages between third cousins or closer will be nullified.

For the amendment, the government researched relevant cases to reconsider the scope of prohibited marriage between relatives.

The research included Sungkyunkwan University's Law School Prof. Hyun So-hea’s paper suggesting reducing the prohibited family scope of consanguineous marriage from third cousins to cousins.

Hyun argued that there is a significant decrease in family bonds among family members outside the range of cousins.

However, the inclusion of Hyun's paper sparked controversy, with marriage traditionalists particularly livid.

Confucian institutions and organizations issued a statement Tuesday that such consideration is “an act of family destruction.” It also demanded that the Justice Ministry stop such research.

“We will make an amendment considering the change in time and national sentiment based on thorough investigation and discussion processed by the Family Litigation Act Revision Committee,” the Justice Ministry added.

BY KIM EUN-BIN, KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]