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In Korea, the birth notification system finally went into effect on July 19th. However, contrary to expectations that foreign children would be included in the birth notification system, it was confirmed that they were excluded.
What is the birth notification system?
The birth notification system is a system that notifies the local government of the child's birth and birth information when a child is born at a medical institution. From now on, when a child is born at a medical institution, the medical institution will notify the local government of the child's information within 14 days after birth. Even though the child's birth information has been notified to the local government, if the guardian does not report the birth within one month, the local government sends a notice to the guardian urging him or her to report the child's birth within 7 days. Even after this, if the guardian does not report the birth or the guardian is unknown, the local government registers the birth ex officio with permission from the court.
Foreigners are excluded from birth notification.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that under the birth notification system, all children can now register their births, regardless of their parents' legal status or origin. But this isn't true. To find out the exact details, I called the Birth Policy Division of the Population and Children's Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which is in charge of the birth notification system, but they did not answer the phone for several days. So, I contacted ‘Health and Welfare Call Center 129’ and the person in charge said this.
“The birth notification system implemented by the Ministry of Health and Welfare from July 19 only applies to Korean citizens and does not apply to foreigners, both legal and illegal. However, the birth registration system for foreign children is an issue under review by the Ministry of Justice, so you should contact the Ministry of Justice for further details.”
Only review, no implementation
The story that foreigners were excluded from the newly implemented birth notification system came as quite a shock.
Many people thought that the birth notification system and the birth registration system were the same system, so they did not care whether the ministry in charge was the Ministry of Health and Welfare or the Ministry of Justice.
In particular, the Ministry of Justice announced on its official blog in February of this year, ‘Universal birth registration system! In the article ‘We guarantee foreign children the right to have their birth registered,’ they made it sound like they would guarantee the right to register their birth to foreign children as well.
Moreover, it was during the time of Justice Minister Park Beom-gye in August 2021 that the Ministry of Justice announced that it would implement a birth registration system for foreign children. It has been under review for two years, but has not yet been implemented.
Undocumented children continue to suffer
As the Korean government shows a lukewarm attitude toward implementing the birth registration system for foreign children, global child rights groups such as ‘Save the Children’ and major Korean media outlets such as Dong-A Ilbo and MBC are strongly advocating for its implementation.
However, there is also a prediction that the Ministry of Justice will not eventually implement the birth registration system for foreign children.
An official at the front-line immigration office said, “It is not easy to introduce a birth registration system for foreign children, whether legal or illegal, because it is an issue that requires consideration of public sentiment, etc.” “When a foreign child is born, the priority is to go to the embassy of the home country and report the birth,” he said.
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