B. Main Topics 1) Diversity in Family Types – Problems and Controversy over the Framework Act on Healthy Families A) Controversy Surrounding the Proposed Amendment to the Framework Act on Healthy Families The Framework Act on Healthy Families, enacted in 2004, is the only law that defines the term ‘family.’472) Under this law, the term "family" means the fundamental group unit of society formed by marriage, blood or adoption. The Act stipulates the rights and obligations of the people in relation to healthy family life and family, and the responsibilities of the state, such as finding solutions to family problems and supporting policies to promote welfare, and in particular, a “healthy family” means a home in which the desires of family members are satisfied and their human lives are guaranteed.473) This definition of family is becoming a subject of a new discussion as the diversity of family types increases and the public’s perception of family is changing.474) Nuclear families consisting of a couple and their children account for only 28% of all families as of 2021, making them no longer the most common household type in Korea. Rather, single-person households account for the highest share of all household types, increasing from 27.9% in 2016 to 33.4% in 2021.475) Although the exact status of unmarried families and foster families has not been identified, the number of non-relative households,476) that can indirectly shed a light, increased from approximately 580,000 in 2016 to approximately 1.01 million (approx. 470,000 households) in 2021. 472) Apart from this, Article 779 of the ‘Civil Act’ stipulates the scope of family as ① spouse, lineal blood relatives, and siblings, ② spouse of lineal blood relatives, lineal blood relatives of the spouse, and siblings of the spouse. 473) This Act uses the terms single-parent families, elderly single-parent families, disabled families, single-mother families, joint-living families, and self-sufficient communities (Article 21(4)), multicultural families, single-parent families, and grandparent-grandson families (Article 34-2(7)(5)), which leaves room for understanding as distinct from ‘healthy family.’ 474) National Assembly Legislative Research Service, Realities of Family Diversity and Policy Tasks: Need to Recognize Non-Related Close Families, May 19, 2022. 475) See Statistics Korea, ‘Census – Households and Household Members by Type,’ ‘Single-Person Households Through 2022 Statistics’ 476) Households composed of 5 or less non-related people 198