A Seoul appellate court ruled in favor of a same-sex couple that sought spousal coverage under the state health insurance program.

In its historic ruling on Tuesday, the Seoul High Court overturned a lower court's decision that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman and cited lack of legal grounds to expand the benefit to same-sex couples.

The latest ruling also revoked the validity of a separate insurance subscription levied by the National Health Insurance Service(NHIS) in 2020 for the plaintiff, So Seong-wook, who sought to be covered as a spouse under his partner’s employer-based coverage.

So and his partner, Kim Yong-min, had wed in 2019, but their marriage is not legally recognized as same-sex unions are not legalized in the country.

While the NHIS initially granted So coverage under Kim’s subscription, the state agency later classified him as a regional subscriber and imposed a separate payment, citing lack of legal recognition of their same-sex marriage.

So filed an administrative suit in 2021, arguing that he and his partner were discriminated against by the NHIS on the grounds that the agency grants spousal coverage to common-law partners.