South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled that the nationality law that allows the state to cancel an illegal naturalization process regardless of the date on which it was conducted is constitutional, officials said Sunday.
Clause 21 of the country’s Nationality Act states that the Justice Minister is entitled to nullify naturalization if it was based on a lie or an illegal act. It does not state the statute of limitations for the nullification.
In February, a Chinese-Korean man surnamed Yang challenged the clause after he was stripped of his South Korean citizenship in 2013 for falsifying the paperwork during his naturalization. He had become a Korean citizen in December 2002.
Yang said allowing the state to revoke citizenship ― albeit obtained via an illegal process ― whenever it wishes infringes upon the freedom to relocate and pursue happiness, and is in violation of the principal of prohibiting over-restriction stipulated in the constitution.
“Recognizing the validity (of the citizenship) despite the illegal nature of its acquisition would effectively validate the illegal naturalization,” the court said in its ruling, adding that imposing only administrative punishments upon those who illegally obtained citizenship could not sufficiently fulfill the purpose of the nationality law.
“The current law does not stipulate unconditional cancelation of an illegal naturalization, but requires the Justice Minister to consider whether or not to revoke the citizenship after considering the severity of the illegal action, the relationship of the person after being naturalized, the aftermath of the action and the time between the authorization and cancellation.”
It also pointed out that a person whose citizenship has been revoked due to his or her wrongdoings is still entitled to one’s rights as a foreign citizen and can reapply to become a Korean citizen, which means it does not violate the principal of minimized infringement in the constitutional law.
The case marked the first time the Constitutional Court officially recognized the legitimacy of not having limits to when an illegal naturalization can be revoked.
Korea has recently seen an increase of cases involving the naturalization process, as it has become home to more foreign residents and naturalized Koreans than ever before.
According to the Ministry of Interior, there were 1.38 million foreigners and 158,064 naturalized Koreans living in the country as of 2015. A total of 92,316 were naturalized through marriage.
The number of foreign-born residents has increased each year since the government started tallying and has tripled compared to 530,000 in 2006, the ministry said.
By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)
