Korean names consist of two parts: a family name and a given name. Traditionally, a child takes their father's surname like in many other cultures, but Korean women do not take their husband's surname after marriage.
Traditionally, Korean women keep their family names after their marriage, but their children take the father's surname. In the premodern, patriarchal Korean society, people were extremely conscious of familial values and their own family identities.
The prohibition of same-surname marriage was recognized as part of Korean customary law during the Japanese colonial period.
Although the tradition of Korean women keeping their last name after marriage dates back to the Goguryeo (고구려) Dynasty, this changed during the Joseon Dynasty around the 1940s when Japan took control of the Korean peninsula. Japanese culture was forced onto Korea, including the culture of taking the husband's last name ...
Your marriage certificate is a record of your marriage, not your new name or your title. Just because you marry doesn't mean that you automatically take a husband's name or that you are now a 'Mrs'. You have the right to choose the name you want.
In Islam, a woman keeps her own surname after marriage. Adopting the husband's surname is alien to Islam. You will find that practically no woman in Arab countries adopts her husband's surname when she is married.
No. According to prevailing jurisprudence, “a married woman has the option, but not a duty, to use the surname of the husband.” Therefore, upon marriage, married women have the option to continuously use her maiden name or: Her maiden first name and surname and add her husband's surname; or.
The husband or wife can apply to the Korean family court for a divorce if their partner has cheated or committed an act of unchastity. Adultery (or cheating) and an act of unchastity are not the same in Korea.
South Korea just reaffirmed its top spot as one of the most difficult countries in the world for getting a divorce. While Americans take for granted the right to a no-fault divorce, Korean divorce law is built on a firm foundation of fault.
Old Korea was a polygamous society where a man could keep as many concubines as he could support. However, from the 15th century, Korean law clearly stipulated that every man was allowed only one wife (remarrying after a spouse's death was nearly obligatory for men and nearly prohibited for women).
The two most populous branches of the Kim clans are Gimhae (with 4 million members) and Gyeongju (1.5 million members). As these two Kim clans descend from different patrilineages, a Gimhae Kim and a Gyeongju Kim can marry. The children born of such marriages were, legally, out-of-wedlock.
In South Korea, the legal age of marriage is 18 years with no exceptions. Under Article 807 of the Civil Code 2011 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years. The age of majority in South Korea is 19 years old, therefore if a person aged 18 wants to marry, they require parental/guardian consent.
Love marriage
Most often, the bride and groom first met on a blind date arranged by friends, on a group date, at their workplace, or while in college or university. South Korean families accept this type of marriage more readily than they used to.
Marriage in Korea is a civil procedure, so a religious ceremony, while often more meaningful, does not create a legal marriage. Although marriage statutes in the U.S. differ from state to state, a marriage performed in Korea under the Korean law is recognized in all states.
Traditionally, Korean women keep their family names after their marriage, while their children usually take the father's surname.
Commonly, when babies are born they take the father's surname, but recently, even if it's still only a small number, there are some cases in which the children take the mother's family name. However, when women get married they keep their own surnames, instead of changing them to that of their husband's.
Part of this report shows that 98.4% of women that are over the age of 10 years are not economically active. Around 68% of the population is married and 0.57% are divorced! This shows that despite all the 'family problems' the family system of the country remains intact.
SEOUL - A divorce court in South Korea on Dec 6 awarded the former wife of Chey Tae-won, chairman of the country's second-largest conglomerate SK Group, a lump sum alimony of 100 million won (S$103,740) and 66.5 billion won (S$68.9 million) in division of assets.
A foreign national who is married to a Korean is entitled to the F-6 marriage immigrant visa. If a foreign spouse has been living in Korea with another type of visa, he or she can change their visa type to F-6. The F-6 visa is initially valid for just one year and needs to be renewed every one or two years thereafter.
The average period of marriage before divorce came to 17.3 years last year, gaining 0.6 year on-year and 4.1 years compared with a decade earlier. But the overall number of divorces came to a 24-year-low last year, coming in at 102,000, down 4.5 percent on-year. This compares with 91,160 divorces recorded in 1997.
Bigamy is illegal in South Korea.
“Mrs.” is the proper title for a married woman whether she has taken her spouse's last name or not. This was not always the case–you used to only use Mrs. if you were taking your husband's first and last name– but times have changed!
The Bottom Line
More women today are opting to keep their last names, and more couples are open to alternatives—whether that's name blending, using each other's last names as middle names, or creating an entirely new last name.
Taking the Surname of Your Wife Upon Marriage
Although it's not common, a man taking the surname of his wife upon marriage is possible. Couples sometimes do this in an effort to change the unequal practice of women taking their husband's surname. Or in some cases, the wife's surname just represents the couple better.