Top court rules that daughters can decide funerary rites

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the eldest child regardless of sex should conduct a parent’s funeral or related rituals. This overturned a Supreme Court ruling from 15 years ago that prioritized sons over daughters.

Supreme court justices before deliberating on a lawsuit over gender discrimination on funeral ceremonies in Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the eldest child regardless of sex should conduct a parent’s funeral or related rituals.

This overturned a Supreme Court ruling from 15 years ago that prioritized sons over daughters.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that surviving family members should decide who will take charge of ancestral rites ceremonies, or jesa.

If no agreement can be reached, however, the oldest immediate relative — no matter if they are a man or a woman — should take charge unless there’s a special reason not to.

The court noted that a legal preference for males, usually the eldest son or the first grandson, violates the constitutional prohibition against gender discrimination and the principle that marriage or family should be based on individual dignity and gender equality.

The daughters of a man who died in 2017 filed a lawsuit against a son who was born out of wedlock.

The man had two daughters after he got married in 1993. However, in 2006 he had a son with another woman.

When the man passed away in 2017, the son’s mother — under his name — had the urn containing the man’s ashes placed in a columbarium at a memorial park in Paju, Gyeonggi.

The man’s wife and the daughters filed a lawsuit against the woman and the memorial park to return the man’s remains.

However, a court and an appeals court denied the daughters’ request, citing a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that when the surviving families cannot agree over the disposition of the dead, the eldest son or first grandson should decide.

The 2008 ruling said only if there are no surviving sons or grandsons should the eldest daughter decides.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]