hankyoreh

in September 2013 in Seoul. (by Kim Kyung-ho

A US Supreme Court ruling recognizing same-sex marriage as a basic Constitutional right is bringing renewed attention to an ongoing suit by South Korea’s first same-sex couple to register for a marriage license.

The couple, 50-year-old Kim-Jho Gwang-soo and 31-year-old Kim Seung-hwan, married in Sept. 2013 in a ceremony at Gwangtong Bridge on Cheonggye Stream in Seoul, with around 2,000 guests in attendance. Kim-Jho is a film director and chairman of the Sinnaneun Center, an LGBT rights institution, while Kim is the president of Rainbow Factory, a production company specializing in queer film.

The couple filed their marriage application documents with Seoul’s Seodaemun District Office for Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, 2013. But it was rejected by the office, which said civil law prevented it from recognizing same-sex marriages. In response, the couple joined the Network to Guarantee Sexual Minority Rights to Form Families in filing suit with Seoul Western District Court on May 21 of last year - the “Couple‘s Day” holiday - to have the district office’s decision overturned.

The couple argues that no specific provisions exist in civil law to prevent same-sex marriage, and that the South Korean Constitution’s provisions on marriage and family do not entail that members must be of the opposite sex. The claim is that the civil law concept of “parties to a marriage” does not imply a ban or restriction on marriage between individuals of the same sex.

Kim-Jho and Kim also refiled their marriage notice with the district office after amending the form’s entries for “husband” and “wife” to read “applicant 1” and “applicant 2.”

“The US Supreme Court decision was the result of a battle that’s been going on since the 1960s,” said Kim-Jho while attending the Queer Cultural Festival at Seoul Plaza on June 28.

“I believe it will not take South Korea as long as the US to legalize same-sex marriage,” he declared.

By Choi Woo-ri, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]