The Constitutional Court has ruled that the failure to establish regulations regarding the birth registration of foreigners born in South Korea violates the Constitution.

In a constitutional complaint filed by a Vietnamese national identified as A and their child—arguing that the legislative omission (failure to act) of not regulating birth registration for foreigners born in the country is unconstitutional—the Constitutional Court issued a unanimous decision by all justices ruling it unconstitutional today (the 27th).

Couple A entered South Korea in 2008 on a non-professional employment visa and married a Vietnamese national in 2016. They have remained in the country despite exceeding their approved period of stay.

The couple had a child at a medical institution in Seoul in 2019, but were unable to register the birth.

This is because the current Act on Registration of Family Relations only regulates the registration of births, marriages, and deaths for "citizens," while lacking provisions for the birth registration of foreigners born in Korea, such as A's child.

In February 2022, A filed a constitutional complaint, claiming that these legal loopholes infringed upon basic rights.

The Constitutional Court premised that the "right to be registered at birth" is the right to have the state manage and register basic information related to a child's birth at "the earliest possible time after birth when the child can be protected."

The court further explained, "This is an unwritten fundamental right derived from the Constitution and a fundamental prerequisite for realizing the general right to personality, demanding the establishment of minimum safeguards so that a child can freely express their personality as a human being and grow and develop healthily under the protection of parents and family. There is no reason to differentiate whether this guarantee is provided based on whether the child is a domestic national or a foreigner."

The court also emphasized that if a person is excluded from birth registration for any reason and their existence on paper is not confirmed in South Korea, they are vulnerable to abuse or abandonment, and even if exposed to other crimes, their identity remains hidden, making them highly susceptible to becoming targets of crime.

"There exists a legislative duty for the state to formulate the specific contents of this right so that birth registration under South Korean law is possible, regardless of nationality, residency status, or whether birth registration was completed in the home country," the Constitutional Court stated.

(Photo: Yonhap News)