Controversy Arises as Incest Laws May Reduce

Controversy is brewing over the consideration of relaxing laws related to incestuous marriages between relatives.

According to the legal community on the 26th, the Ministry of Justice recently commissioned a study to revise laws prohibiting marriages between family members. This is because the Constitutional Court deemed it necessary to make amendments after ruling that the civil law provision that “nullifies marriages within 8 degrees of kinship” was unconstitutional in 2022.

The “Study on the Scope and Effect of Prohibiting Marriages Among Relatives” report handed to the Ministry of Justice suggested that the range of marriage prohibition should be significantly reduced from the current state.

What particularly drew attention was the proposal that the range of marriage prohibition should be reduced from “Within 8 degrees of kinship” (third cousins) to “Within 4 degrees of kinship” (first cousins). If this happens, marriages between 5th and 6th-degree relatives become possible, allowing cousins with the same grandparents to become in-laws.

Professor Hyun So-Hye from the Graduate School of Law at Sungkyunkwan University, who was commissioned for the study, explained that this is because “the bonds that individuals have with their family relatives of 5th degree or higher has significantly weakened”.

According to the current Civil Law, relatives within 8 degrees of kinship are not allowed to marry, and if they do, it is deemed invalid.

However, the Constitutional Court ruled that “Nullifying marriages that have already taken place uniformly and indiscriminately violates the principle of excessive prohibition”, regarding the relevant civil law provision.

Accordingly, the Constitutional Court set the deadline for the continued application of the marriage nullification provision for the end of this year and recommended legal amendments. This study was conducted while the government was reviewing legal amendments, following the Constitutional Court’s decision.

However, upon disclosure of this information, the Sungkyunkwan Confucian Association and the National Confucian Association issued a statement saying, “Stop the act of destroying families immediately.”

They emphasized, “Family members that share the same great-grandparents are called ‘8 degrees of kinship’ and if the standard for incestuous marriage is hastily changed, human relationships will collapse, the family tree will be messed up, and the family name itself will become meaningless.”