Individual Record Filing To Be Introduced

The current household system is to be repealed and each individual would be allowed to have his/her own household record on the government file, announced the Presidential Transition Committee.

Chung Young-ae, a committee member in charge of society, culture and gender-related matters, told reporters yesterday, "As promised by President-elect Roh, we will end the household system. In place of it, committee members agreed to introduce a new system, which is named Individual Record Filing system. Thus, under the new system, a person would not have to file his or her records on the file of the householder. In a nutshell, a person would have his or her own file where the brief birth information of the spouse and children is recorded."

Chung also explained, "Recently, Ministry of Women and Gender Equality briefed us. At that time, its officials proposed replacing the old-fashioned system with a married couple-based one. The ministry`s proposal would combine and file together the information of each of the married couple. But, most of our members opposed it. Under the proposal, a woman`s marriage and divorce records are still on file, just as before. We did not see any merit in it."

Women`s rights groups have strongly requested for introduction of the Individual Record Filing system, arguing the system best fits into the dominant theme of this ear that each individual is equal and deserves respect. On the other hand, the Justice Ministry and Confucianism scholars have voiced their vehement opposition so far, since, they assert, the new version would root out the traditional concept of the family. Thus, a heated debate is sure to follow in the process.

Chung said, "We understand it would need some money to institutionalize the new filing system. Now, every individual`s file has been put into the database. Therefore, there would not be a big problem. We will build up the public support before ending the old system through, for example, public hearings. Ultimately, The National Assembly has to legislate the change into law."

Seung-Heon Lee ddr@donga.com