Korean family register

I wrote in a previous post that when you marry a Korean, your name has to appear on the family register. However, there are two kinds of family registers in Korea. The first one is called 호적등본 (ho-jeok-deung-bon) and the other one is called 주민등본 (ju-min-deung-bon).

Our 주민등본 before having a child and changing citizenship and after

According to my husband, the 호적등본 is the general family registry. It is where all family members’ name is listed. The 주민등본 is the head of the family’s own register and only Korean citizens are listed. When you get married to a Korean, your name should be on the ho-jeok. You are not legally married if your name is not there. It will appear on a box below your husband’s name. As a foreign national, your name will not be listed on the ju-min. It will only appear there when you change your citizenship.

It used to be that only men can legally be the head of the family in Korea. That’s why when a woman has a child out of wedlock, the child is usually registered under the name of a couple in the family. It all changed during the Roh administration when they recognized that women can be heads of the family too.

When a woman in a Korean family gets married, her name is removed (marked as 제적) from her father’s ho-jeok and is transferred to her husband’s.