▶ Full Text of Attorney No Jong-eon of Law Firm Jeonjae’s Press Conference

​I am attorney No Jong-eon, representing the legislative petition for the Goo Hara Act. First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the public who have deeply sympathized with the purpose of the Goo Hara Act. Because so many people agreed with the purpose of our legislative petition, we were able to reach 100,000 signatures on the National Assembly public consent petition, and I believe this is an achievement shared by everyone who sympathized with and supported the purpose of the Goo Hara Act. I would also like to once again express my sincere gratitude to Assembly Members Seo Young-kyo and Song Gi-heon for promising to dedicate themselves to passing the Goo Hara Act as a top legislative priority in the 21st National Assembly.

Many people were shocked and disappointed when they learned that the Goo Hara Act was automatically discarded because it failed to pass at the last plenary session of the 20th National Assembly on the 20th. As we have already said, under the current legal system, even if there is a parent who has long failed to fulfill the duty to raise a child, if the child dies before the parent in an accident or other event, then unless there are very special circumstances, the child’s property, including death benefits, is inherited by the parent who abandoned that child. The fundamental reason this problem arose is that the grounds for disqualification from inheritance under the Civil Act are very limited, such as killing a family member or forging a will. As a result, in many cases, including the 2010 Cheonanham tragedy and the 2014 Sewol tragedy, we were forced to watch as compensation for the fallen servicemen and the young students who tragically lost their lives was not delivered to the people who raised them, but instead was passed on as is to the parents who had abandoned those children long ago.

Some argue that if lineal ascendants are excluded from inheritance for failing to fulfill their duty to support the decedent, the likelihood of legal disputes becoming frequent is high, and that this would seriously undermine the legal stability of inheritance relations. They say that the Civil Act already provides mechanisms such as wills and the contribution portion system, which can take into account the decedent’s intent or whether the duty to support the decedent was fulfilled, and therefore it does not violate the Constitution.

However, no matter how important legal stability may be, I seriously question whether it is appropriate for a result that goes against universal justice and common sense—where someone fails to fulfill their duty to raise a child yet still takes all the financial benefit from that child’s tragic death—to be treated as something worth interfering with due process. And the claim that a mechanism exists to consider the decedent’s intent through a will made while alive is far too unrealistic, given that the decedent is often a young child or student whose estate opens due to an entirely unforeseen accident such as Cheonanham or Sewol. It would mean that a child would have to make a will in advance excluding from inheritance the parent who abandoned their duty of care in preparation for an accident that may lead to the child’s own death, but can that truly be said to conform to proper universal common sense and justice, and to be a proper solution?

The contribution portion system also has significant limitations. The determination of whether there was a special contribution is left entirely to the courts, and the courts are not only very strict in recognizing contribution portions, but even if one parent takes on all child-rearing because the other parent abandons their duty to raise the child, current case law treats that as the ordinary duty of a parent, not a special contribution, and does not recognize a contribution portion. Therefore, unless the current contribution portion system changes, it too cannot be a proper solution.

On the other hand, some also argue that the standard for determining what constitutes neglect of the duty to support is very vague. However, this is something that can be made specific not only through the law itself but also through court decisions. In many other laws—for example, the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act, and administrative litigation—the term “substantially” is used, and its meaning is being concretized through court precedents.

Law is the embodiment of universal justice and common sense that members of society must share. The fact that the Constitution of the Republic of Korea delegates to National Assembly members, the representatives of the people, the authority to amend and enact laws is the realization of the constitutional spirit that a social consensus among members of society is absolutely necessary in order to embody this spirit of law.

Society has changed enormously since the founding of the Republic of Korea. The family system is no exception. Public awareness is changing in the direction that, for family rights to exist, one must fulfill basic duties as a family member rather than rely unconditionally on bloodline. The National Petition for the Goo Hara Act is one representative example of what members of our society think about the reason for a family’s existence and its meaning.

Now the 21st National Assembly is opening. I sincerely hope that our society will have another opportunity, through the topic of the Goo Hara Act, to seriously reflect on what the true meaning of family is. I earnestly hope that the Goo Hara Act will 반드시 be enacted in the 21st National Assembly. Thank you.

▶ Full Text of the Press Conference by the Late Ms. Goo Hara’s Older Brother, Goo Hoin

​Hello, I am Goo Hoin, the older brother of the late Goo Hara. First, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Assembly Member Seo Young-kyo, who promised to help us a great deal in the 21st National Assembly as well.

Our biological mother ran away when Hara was 9 and I was about 11, and for nearly 20 years we had no contact with her. During that time, our father traveled all over the country to earn living expenses, and we grew up relying on each other while being cared for by our grandmother and aunt. It was not so much that we did not have a mother as that we did not have the word “mother.” For me, it was a word I could not even say. Hara was outwardly always a cheerful and bright younger sister, but inside she was always struggling, hurting, longing for love, and often very lonely. Seeing Hara like that always broke my heart. Hara’s situation was my situation as well. Hara lived her entire life fighting the trauma of being abandoned by her biological mother and the deep, abiding longing for her. Even while alive, Hara often confided in me her anger toward the biological mother who abandoned her, as well as her regret, emptiness, and longing. As many of you know, Hara left our side in an unfortunate accident around November 2019. During the funeral, our biological mother suddenly came to the funeral hall. Ignoring our family’s protests, she behaved in ways that were completely incomprehensible by common sense, such as recording and trying to take proof photos with celebrities who came to pay their respects. No matter how you look at it, I could not understand how she could try to take photos with celebrities at her own daughter’s funeral.

Also, after Hara’s burial was completed, lawyers from the biological mother’s side, whom I had never seen before, suddenly came to me and demanded half of the proceeds from the sale of real estate owned by Hara. I was deeply shocked that the biological mother who abandoned Hara and me would make such an impudent demand. Of course, even if the Goo Hara Act were enacted, I understand well that, under the principle against retroactive legislation, the amended law would not apply to the inheritance division case our family is currently pursuing. Even so, the reason we are actively pursuing the legislative petition for the Goo Hara Act together with Attorney No Jong-eon is to prevent tragedies like Hara and my family—who were abandoned by their biological mother in childhood and suffered from loneliness and longing throughout their lives—from happening again in our society. With the hope that my beloved younger sister Hara’s name can help change our society to one that better conforms to universal justice and human morality, and with the desire to help many people who have lived sad lives like our family, I filed this legislative petition.

 I consider the passage of this Goo Hara Act to be the last gift I can give to my beloved younger sister, who lived her entire life sadly, in pain, and alone.

I sincerely thank the many people who have loved and supported Hara until now. Although the Goo Hara Act was not enacted in the 20th National Assembly, I earnestly hope that, with the help of many people, it will 반드시 pass in the 21st National Assembly. I sincerely ask for even more interest and support going forward. Thank you.