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Kim-Jho Kwang-soo wipes away a tear during a press conference at People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy’s Zelkova Tree Hall in Seoul’s Jongno district

The marriage notice of South Korea’s first same-sex married couple has been once again blocked by a court.

The 5th civil division of Seoul Seobu District Court under judge Kim Yang-seop announced on Dec. 6 that it had “dismissed an appeal of a court’s dismissal of a case filed by Kim-Jho Kwang-soo, 51, and Kim Seung-hwan, 32, claiming a district office had acted unjustly in refusing to accept their marriage notice as a same-sex couple.” In their case, Kim-Jho and Kim filed an appeal of dissatisfaction with the matter’s handling by the government employee in charge of registrations for family relationships.

As grounds for dismissing the appeal, the court explained, “Close examination of the first trial court‘s interpretation of related ordinances and the current law, the claims of the appellants and the petitionee, and the materials showed the first court’s ruling to be justified.”

“In view of the general public’s perceptions on marriage being a union between a man and a woman and the interpretation of related laws, an agreement between two petitioners of the same sex cannot be viewed as a marriage,” the court concluded.

“The question of whether a union between members of the same sex is to be recognized as a marriage is a matter to be designed through the determination of the legislature as an institution representing the public,” it continued.

“While times may have changed, a marriage between members of the same sex cannot be seen as permitted merely through interpretation of the current law without separate legislative measures,” it added.

In response to the ruling, attorney Han Ga-ram from the same-sex marriage suit legal team said it “repeated the exact same ruling as the first trial.”

“It’s unfortunate that there do not appear to be any signs of the court giving the matter sufficient thought,” Han continued. “We plan to discuss the matter with the individuals in question and the same-sex marriage legal team and consider another appeal.”

After holding a wedding ceremony in 2013, Kim-Jho and Kim attempted to file a marriage notice with Seoul‘s Seodaemun District Office on Dec. 10 of that year, but the office returned the notice on the grounds that civil law prevented it from recognizing a same-sex union as a marriage. In 2014, the couple filed suit with Seoul Seobu District Court to have the district office’s actions overturned. In May 2016, the court ruled to dismiss Kim-Jho and Kim’s lawsuit. In response, they filed a bill of complaint, in which they accused the judiciary of “apparently not reading currents in the Republic of Korea accurately.”

By Ko Han-sol, staff reporter

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