S. Korea to remove ‘out-of-wedlock child’ term from welfare forms
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The move comes as births outside legal marriage are becoming more common in South Korea.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PIXABAY
SEOUL – South Korea will remove the term “out-of-wedlock child” from government forms used in child welfare administration, as the authorities move to update official language in line with changing views on family and childbirth.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on April 30 that it had issued an advance notice of revisions to the enforcement decree and rules of the Child Welfare Act.
The proposed changes also include measures to strengthen responses to child abuse and suspected abuse-related deaths.
The term has already been removed from the Child Welfare Act itself, but remained in some lower-level administrative forms used by public officials in the field, including attached forms under the Act’s enforcement rules.
The ministry said that it plans to remove the expression from all child welfare-related administrative forms, reflecting concerns that children should not be classified by their parents’ marital status.
The move comes as births outside legal marriage are becoming more common in South Korea. In 2023, 13,800 babies were born outside marriage, accounting for 5.8 per cent of all births, the highest share since related data began in 1981, according to Statistics Korea.
Marriage has long been viewed in South Korea as a prerequisite for childbirth, but public attitudes have gradually shifted, with more people seeing nonmarital births as a personal choice.
The term “out-of-wedlock child” came under renewed scrutiny late in 2025 after a high-profile celebrity case reignited debate over whether official language should define children through their parents’ marital status.
The proposed amendments also include steps to strengthen the child protection system. In cases of suspected child abuse-related deaths, the government would be able to form a special committee to conduct a detailed review.
The revisions would also set out specific grounds for local government heads to request a court ruling to terminate parental rights in cases involving children in need of protection. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
