A South Korean appeals court ruled Tuesday that government health insurance should offer spousal coverage to same-sex couples.
So Seong-uk, left, speaks at a press conference while his partner Kim Yong-min looks on in February 2021 as they file a lawsuit against South Korea's National Health Insurance Service at the Seoul Administrative Court.
The 32-year-old plaintiff So Seong-uk sued the National Health Insurance Service in 2021, after the agency revoked his status as a dependent to his partner Kim Yong-min.So and Kim held a wedding to publicly declare their relationship in 2019. The next year, the health insurance agency accepted Kim's request to list So as his dependent, on the same grounds that it provides spousal benefits to heterosexual couples in de facto marriage.
That judgment was overturned at the appellate court on Tuesday. Both groups are"the same in essence" in that they form"emotional and economic community" outside the legally defined family relationship, the court said in its verdict. To recognize dependent status in one group and not in the other based on sexual orientation"constitutes a discriminatory treatment."
"When I first met Seong-uk ten years ago, we couldn't find any official expression to describe our relationship," his husband Kim said."Today, at last, our relationship is recognized in the legal system."
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