“The Korean government will also identify whereabouts of undocumented foreign children born”

The government has announced that it will also check the whereabouts of foreign children who have been given temporary birth numbers among undocumented children.

However, it is questionable whether it is possible to confirm the whereabouts of the children as it seems that not a few children will remain unregistered.

On July 12, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held the 2nd meeting of the 'Promotion Team for Improving the Protection System for Unregistered Children' and conducted a pan-governmental investigation and confirmation of children with social welfare computer numbers and foreign children with temporary newborn numbers to ensure whereabouts and safety. He said he would go check it out.

About 4,000 of the 6,000 infants and toddlers found by the Board of Audit and Inspection for missing birth registrations are said to be foreign children.

They gave birth in Korea, but their births have not been registered. Under the current law, foreigners are not obligated to register their birth after giving birth in Korea. There are no regulations or systems for registering the birth of foreign children.

Because of this situation, it is inevitable that there are many foreign children whose birth registration is missing.

The government believes that most foreign children born in Korea will have their birth registered in their home country, but it is estimated that there are still quite a few cases of staying in Korea without it.

Korea is also promoting a system that allows birth registration of children of undocumented foreigners, and a related law has been proposed in the National Assembly, but it has not been passed yet.

According to the enactment bill of the ‘Act on the Registration of Foreign Children’s Births’ proposed by Assemblyman So Byeong-cheol on June 15, foreigners residing in Korea can register their children’s births, in particular, in order to prevent unregistered residents from reluctant to register their children's births, it contains information that foreigners who have registered their children's births cannot be disadvantaged.

Meanwhile, a bill to introduce the birth notification system, which requires medical institutions to notify local governments of babies' birth information, was recently confirmed through the National Assembly. However, only Koreans are eligible, and foreign children are still not subject to the birth notification system.

Because of this, many civic groups and institutions are demanding that the Korean government urgently supplement it.

Representative A, who runs a care facility for undocumented foreign children in Gyeonggi-do, said, “I think it is necessary to find out the actual situation of undocumented foreign children, however, I don't know how to find out the whereabouts, and that might be possible,” “Why don’t we induce registration so that the material is revealed on its own? I wonder if the government has such a will,”

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