'Stepmother' and 'Stepfather' Labels to Disappear from Resident Registration Certificates... Amendments Take Effect Oct. 29

Family members listed simply as "household members," others as "cohabitants"
Korean and Romanized names listed together on foreign nationals' resident registration certificates

To protect the privacy of remarried families, labels such as "stepmother," "stepfather" and "spouse's child" will generally no longer appear on resident registration certificates and abstracts.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said the amended Enforcement Decree of the Resident Registration Act and Enforcement Rule of the Resident Registration Act, which include these measures, will take effect on October 29.

The amendments were introduced to prevent the privacy of remarried families from being exposed when resident registration certificates and abstracts are issued. Under the changes, family members other than the head of household and their spouse will simply be listed as "household members," while other individuals will be listed as "cohabitants."

Applicants will generally be guided to request the "general" version unless the submitting institution has a specific requirement. However, if an applicant selects the "detailed" version, they can still receive a certificate or abstract showing detailed family relationships, as before.

The changes will also make it much easier for foreign nationals to prove their identity. Their Korean names and names in Roman letters can now both be listed on resident registration certificates, greatly simplifying the process of verifying that documents refer to the same person.

Until now, foreign nationals' names were written in Korean on family relationship documents but only in Roman letters on resident registration certificates, causing considerable administrative inconvenience when proving their identity and confirming that the documents referred to the same person.

In addition, the government has reduced the burden of supporting documents applicants must bring by making active use of shared administrative information during applications for the "Move-In Report Notification Service" and the move-in reporting process.

Since the legislation was promulgated on April 28, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has improved the resident registration system over the past six months to ensure a smooth transition. In September, it signed a business agreement (MOU) with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Korean Institute for Healthy Family and completed preparations to minimize confusion at local administrative service counters, including producing promotional posters for distribution to local governments and social media card news.

Vice Minister of the Interior and Safety Kim Minjae said, "We hope the enforcement of this decree will provide more careful protection for the privacy of remarried families and resolve administrative inconveniences for foreign nationals. We will continue to carefully address the inconveniences and difficulties people experience in their daily lives and improve the resident registration system."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.