“A Society That Allows Inheritance Without Care Is Not Just.”

 Statement by the Korean Association of Retired Persons (KARP)

Although the Republic of Korea has already entered a super-aged society, its laws and institutions concerning parental support and inheritance have failed to keep pace with this reality. A system that allows individuals to inherit without bearing any responsibility for caring for their parents is not merely an issue of family ethics, but a matter of social justice.

Recently, the so-called “Goo Hara Act” was enacted, opening a legal pathway to restrict inheritance rights in cases where parents have abandoned or neglected their children. This represents a meaningful step, as it reflects for the first time in law the principle that “rights should not be granted to those who have failed to fulfill their obligations.” However, the law applies this principle only to parents and remains silent on violations of filial duty by adult children, thereby realizing justice only in part.

Under the current legal framework, acts of violence or homicide against parents constitute grounds for disqualification from inheritance. Yet cases in which adult children, while aware that their parents are alive, deliberately abandon them or evade their duty of care face no legal sanction. This constitutes a serious legal contradiction: violence is punished, while deliberate neglect of survival is ignored. Rights without responsibility are not justice, and inheritance without care amounts to a form of social violence.

Other countries have already responded to this issue through institutional measures. Singapore enacted the Maintenance of Parents Act in 1995, which imposes legal responsibility on adult children who fail to support their parents despite having the capacity to do so. Many countries in the United States and Europe likewise legally define mutual obligations of support between parents and children, and do not separate inheritance from the fulfillment of caregiving responsibilities.

Accordingly, the Korean Association of Retired Persons (KARP) calls for the following:

First, serious violations of filial support obligations by adult children should also be considered grounds for restricting inheritance rights.

Second, institutional mechanisms must be established to objectively verify whether parental care obligations were fulfilled during the parents’ lifetime.

Third, before placing responsibility solely on families, the state must strengthen its public responsibility for basic pensions, caregiving, and long-term care.

In a super-aged society, caring for elderly parents is no longer a matter of personal virtue alone. Communities can be sustained only when rights and responsibilities function together. The Republic of Korea must now correct the distorted structure of “inheritance without care” and move toward a just and balanced system of inheritance.

December 23, 2025Korean Association of Retired Persons (KARP)

About KARP

The Korean Association of Retired Persons (KARP) is a non-profit organization founded in New York in 1996 and holds Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). For over 25 years, KARP has been active in Korea, leading initiatives in aging society policy, pension reform, and intergenerational solidarity. Its President, Juch Myong-Yong, a former President of the Korean-American Association of New York, has served as a member of the Presidential Committee on the Future of an Aging Society, the Pension Special Committee of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, and as a non-executive director of the National Pension Service. He is a recognized expert with extensive firsthand experience in policies affecting Korea’s 50+ and retired population.