SEOUL (Reuters) -- Kim Min-hee, a 31-year-old working mother, never thought about South Korean family law until she decided to end her seven-year marriage. Having fled with her two sons from a violent husband, Kim -- not her real name -- wants to change a decades-old law to give her children equal rights.
"After the divorce, my sons and I will not be in the same family legally. Even though I am allowed to raise them, we are considered to be just living together in a house," Kim told Reuters at a rally in Seoul against the "ho-ju" system.
Ho-ju literally means head of the family or household.
In practice, it defines family structure through male lines, giving men privileges and disadvantaging women, notably in divorce. The country has one of the highest divorce rates.
The law emerged under Japanese colonial rule in the first half of the 20th century. Hitherto, Koreans had defined family structure through male and female lines.
For more than 40 years, opponents of ho-ju have said South Korea is one of the few countries to discriminate in this way.
President Roh Moo-hyun, a former human rights lawyer, promised in last year's election campaign to abolish ho-ju, but traditionalists oppose this.
When a couple marries, the government registers them as one family. The groom becomes the bride's new ho-ju, or household head, instead of her father.
The bride keeps her father's family name, but the lack of a smile on a bride's face symbolizes the switch in loyalty.
If the husband dies, the next ho-ju is their son and then any grandson. Inheritance is divided equally, regardless of gender.
But in divorce, the woman is removed from her husband's family records. Children from the marriage remain firmly in those records -- even if they live with the mother.
