Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback National Human Rights Commission of Korea - Complaint Summaries

Investigations and Remedies for Discrimination Based on the Marital Status [2008] KRNHRC 9 (1 January 2008)

Discrimination on the basis of marital status refers to unfairly treating people without
reasonable causes on the basis of being married, single, divorced, widowed, separated, or
re-married or the possibility of getting married.

Discrimination against a single householder in land conversion approval
Yun, an unmarried householder, asked the City government about the
requirements to obtain approval to build a house in the Water Source Protection Area.
However, the City government answered that Yun could obtain approval for building
a house in the area, only if all of his family members including his parents and siblings
actually lived together in the area for certain period of time. Yun filed a compliant over
discrimination based on marital status. In response, the City government and the
Ministry of Environment claimed that the restrictions were needed to protect public
interests and to limit developmental activities in the area. In fact, some people live together
with their families, but divide the household into two or more in order to move one of their
addresses to the Water Source Protection Area only on paper in order to obtain approval
for developing land.

However, the Commission found that the complainant did not live together with his
family and led an independent life with his own income as a single person. It pointed out
that the requirement for the complainant to live together with his family lacked legal
grounds and constituted discrimination based on marital status, without reasonable causes.
Therefore, the Commission recommended that the Minister of Environment and the Mayor
of City do not require single persons living an independent life as a householder to
live together with their family, in relation to interpreting and applying the standards for
land development in the Water Source Protection Area.