Interior ministry to shield stepfamilies' privacy in residency records

South Korea's interior ministry said Wednesday that revised enforcement rules for the Resident Registration Act will take effect Thursday, changing how family relationships and foreign residents' names appear on resident registration certificates so that stepfamilies' private lives are less exposed.

Under the revision, family members listed on a resident registration certificate or extract who are neither the household head nor the head's spouse will be shown only as "household members," and anyone else as "co-residents." The change removes labels such as "spouse's child," "stepmother" and "stepfather" that could reveal a family's composition to anyone handed the document. Applicants will be guided to the standard version unless the receiving institution specifically requires otherwise, but may still choose the detailed version.

The same rules make it easier for foreign residents to prove their identity. Their Korean-language name and Romanized name can both be printed on a resident registration extract, closing a mismatch that has long caused trouble: family relation records carry a foreigner's name in Korean, while the extract has shown it only in Roman letters.

The revision also trims paperwork for people filing a change of address, allowing them to apply for the service that notifies them once the report is processed and to share administrative information between agencies rather than bringing supporting documents themselves.

The measures were published on April 28 and took effect after a six-month preparation period, during which the ministry upgraded the resident registration system and ran a public information campaign. On Sept. 9 the ministry signed an agreement with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Korea Institute for Healthy Families on promoting the changes, and it has distributed posters to local governments and posted card news on social media.

"With the enforcement of this decree, I hope we will protect the private lives of stepfamilies more carefully and resolve the administrative inconvenience felt by foreigners," Vice Minister Kim Min-jae said. "We will continue to look closely at the difficulties people face in daily life and keep improving the resident registration system."