Same-Sex Couples In South Korea Want To Be Allowed To Have Children

As South Korea battles one of the world's lowest birth rates, same-sex couples say they can help.

Transcript

00:00Kim Eun-ha and her girlfriend Park Cho-yeon live on the outskirts of Seoul and want to

00:07have children, which fits in with South Korea's ambitions to boost its low fertility rate.

00:13But as a same-sex couple, they aren't allowed to. Such couples are not legally recognized

00:20in South Korea, and doctors won't perform artificial insemination on women without a

00:26male partner.

00:50South Korea has tried and failed for years to manage its declining birth rate and aging

00:55population. Reasons include high housing and education costs and men not being willing

01:02to share childcare responsibilities. President Yoon Seok-yol has now declared a demographic

01:08national emergency.

01:11LGBTQ plus communities face opposition in South Korea's conservative society, but activists

01:18say same-sex couples can help boost the birth rate. And the government should acknowledge

01:23different family structures.

01:45Prevented from getting married in their home country, Kim and Park now plan to travel to

01:49Australia to cement their union.

02:11Getting married will fulfill one wish, but in the face of obstacles and opposition at

02:15home, having children will prove harder.

02:19Luffy Lee and Louise Watt for Taiwan Plus.