Woman adopts 5-year-old best friend

In order to be able to become a family together, sign a guarantee to go to the hospital, take care of sick and vegetarian drugs, Eun Seo Ran decided to adopt her best friend Eo Rie.

In South Korea there is a 44-year-old woman named Eun Seo Ran. She was born and raised in a middle-class family near Seoul. After graduating from college, she worked an office job and used to live in many parts of the country with the desire to be close to nature and away from air pollution because of chronic eczema. But she never felt any place belonged to her.

Once, a drunk homeowner tried to break into her room in the middle of the night and it was just one of many break-ins she had ever experienced. Once the village elders asked Seo Ran about her husband and children, after hearing her thoughts about this, they scolded her for "going against the laws of nature".

Depressed, Seo Ran moved again in 2016. This time she settled in rural Jeolla with a population of tens of thousands, giving her a sense of anonymity. Soon after, she discovered another woman living alone next door.

Her name is Eo Rie (39), who also came to Jeolla with the aim of escaping the hustle and bustle of life in the big city. Seo Ran finds much in common between herself and Eo Rie. They both love plants, vegetarianism and DIY. Especially the same in thinking about being single all your life. That's why the two gradually became close. Eo Rie decided to move in with Seo Ran after 1 year of acquaintance.

This decision is to reduce the unsafe feeling of living alone and avoid attracting unnecessary attention. "But more than anything else, Eo Rie and I talked a lot about healthy living in old age and concluded that living with a like-minded friend would be one of the best ways to do it," Seo Ran explained.

Seo Ran said that when she was admitted to the hospital, she realized she needed someone who could be by her side, not just provide emotional support. She wants Eo Rie to be allowed into the hospital as a family member and, in a worst-case scenario, be able to hold her funeral without going through lengthy administrative procedures.

Although Seo Ran and Eo Rie's families both accept their lifestyles, they still want equal rights and legal protection. So the two began to learn the law. Marriage is impossible because they are not romantically involved, and even same-sex marriage is not legal in South Korea.

However, the two eventually found a legal loophole: adopting adults.

"Family is defined under current law basically based on sexual union and people born from that union – i.e. children," Seo Ran told AFP. "But I think emotional connection plays the most important role. So when I'm with someone, and I feel the most peaceful and emotionally stable when I think about them, I believe that person can really be my family."

Seo Ran said the process of adopting a close friend was incredibly easy. Adoption by an unmarried person in Korea requires a process that considers factors such as age, financial stability, and child-rearing environment. Cases of obtaining court approval are extremely rare.

But for Seo Ran, adopting another adult has no legal prerequisites other than that she must be older than Eo Rie, allowed by Eo Rie's mother, and Eo Rie is not a biological child.

Seo Ran said that after submitting the paperwork, it only took them about 24 hours to be approved.

The process was so easy that it left Seo Ran feeling "empty" in the face of activists' ongoing struggle for recognition for homosexuals and other non-traditional groups.

Seo Ran said South Korea should amend outdated laws and allow more single citizens to legally start their own families.

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