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Hyunah Yang (Seoul National University, Republic of Korea)
Hyunah Yang is a Professor at the School of Law at Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, where she teaches feminist jurisprudence and sociology of law. Her research and teaching interests have been in social theory, feminist jurisprudence, reproductive rights, postcolonialism, family law, and representing victims’ voices, particularly in the context of war and colonialism.
Professor Yang's publications are diverse that include articles such as “Post-Adultery Law in Korea: A Feminist Law and Society Approach” (Seoul Law Journal, VOL.56-3, 2015, PP.31-78); “Demanding the Multi-Focus Policy for Abortion: Beyond the Binary Code of the Right for Life vs. the Right for Self-Determination” (Journal of Korean Women’s Studies, vol. 26-4, pp. 63- 100, 2010); and “The Reasoning of Gender Discrimination in the Constitutional Case of the Family-Head System - in Relation to ‘Tradition’ and Colonialism” (Economy and Society, vol. 88, pp. 215-256, 2010). As for books, Professor Yang and Chungmoo Choi edited and translated Voices of the Korean Comfort Women – History Rewritten from Memories (Routledge, 2023); edited Law and Society in Korea (Edward Elgar, 2013) and Reading Korean Family Law –At the Crossroads of Tradition, Coloniality, and Gender (Changbi, 2011).
Professor Yang served as a country prosecutor of the North and South Korean Joint Prosecution Team at the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal against Military Sexual Slavery (2000), President of the Korean Academic Association of Gender and Law (2008–2010), and Commissioner at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (2011- 2014).
“Why and How Should Be the Korean Family Law Taken Seriously?”
Hyunah Yang
(Seoul National University the School of Law)
(Seoul National University the School of Law)
This presentation tries to elaborate on the significance of family law (the civil code book IV and V) from gendered, historical, and sociological points of view. In 2005, the family-head system (戶主制度) in the civil code was eliminated after more than half a century of abolition movement. At the legislature, a new civil code bill was passed in March of 2005 and two months earlier, the Constitutional Court held the system being incompatible with the Constitution – especially Article 11 and Article 36 paragraph 1 regarding Gender Equality in Family and Marriage. I will review this notable feminist legal revision movement and the law and social change movement in Korea, particularly in terms of the reasoning of why this legal system ought to the deleted: such as in terms of the ‘liberalist’ individual right of the freedom; ‘socialist’ economic empowerment of the women; and ‘(post)colonial’ engagement with the ‘tradition’ and colonial legacy.
Surname Issue (姓本制度) is another historical institution codified in the modern civil code in Korea. In Article 781 paragraph 1, “A child shall succeed his/her father's surname and origin of surname: Provided, That when the parents agree to have the child assume his/her mother's surname and origin of surname at the time of filing a report on their marriage, he or she shall succeed the mother's surname and origin of surname,” father’s surname has still the principle, default and normal one for the child’s surname as the law. This so-called ‘traditional’ system has been detrimental to single divorced and remarried mothers and their right to create a ‘family.’ What kind of theory or reasoning will be enough for the Korean surname system that guarantee gender equality without losing ‘traditional’ value?
In relation to the surname issue, reproductive rights in Korea can also be reckoned with. Although the Korean Constitutional Court declared that “the surname issue is not related with concrete right and responsibility”(in the 2005 Decision), it hinders women from realizing their reproductive rights in a very serious manner. This is mainly because of the exclusive status of matrimony in the registration system. This presentation will trace this marriage-centeredness in registration in Korea given the colonial legacy and the authoritarianism in Korea and political utilization after that.
Surname Issue (姓本制度) is another historical institution codified in the modern civil code in Korea. In Article 781 paragraph 1, “A child shall succeed his/her father's surname and origin of surname: Provided, That when the parents agree to have the child assume his/her mother's surname and origin of surname at the time of filing a report on their marriage, he or she shall succeed the mother's surname and origin of surname,” father’s surname has still the principle, default and normal one for the child’s surname as the law. This so-called ‘traditional’ system has been detrimental to single divorced and remarried mothers and their right to create a ‘family.’ What kind of theory or reasoning will be enough for the Korean surname system that guarantee gender equality without losing ‘traditional’ value?
In relation to the surname issue, reproductive rights in Korea can also be reckoned with. Although the Korean Constitutional Court declared that “the surname issue is not related with concrete right and responsibility”(in the 2005 Decision), it hinders women from realizing their reproductive rights in a very serious manner. This is mainly because of the exclusive status of matrimony in the registration system. This presentation will trace this marriage-centeredness in registration in Korea given the colonial legacy and the authoritarianism in Korea and political utilization after that.
Internationale Vereinigung für Rechts- und Wirtschaftsphilosophie /
International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy
