"This is a review article written after watching the broadcast."
Shinhwa's Lee Min-woo decided to adopt his Japanese-Korean fiancée's daughter as his legal child.
On the 11th broadcast of KBS2 'Mr. House Husband 2' (hereinafter 'Mr. House Husband 2'), Lee Min-woo was shown taking steps to adopt his fiancée's daughter as his own ahead of their May wedding.
That day Lee Min-woo said, "I signed the family car contract. It should come out around next week. I'm looking into kindergarten now and checking out the obstetric clinic, and we also need to look into a postpartum care center here," adding, "You've worked hard, so it would be nice to rest and have the wedding around spring. Yangyang will be born healthy by then," revealing their May wedding plans.
Later Lee Min-woo went to the district office to apply for his fiancée's resident registration card. During the process he asked an employee, "If I get a family relation certificate, will the child be listed too?" The employee explained, "The child is currently your fiancée's child, not your child, right? If so, you would first need to go through the child's adoption procedure. Because the child is not a child between the two of you. Right now the child will probably be listed as a cohabitant, but if you register your marriage and then adopt, the child will appear as your spouse's child and your child," surprising the two.
Lee Min-woo said, "The word 'adoption' felt unfamiliar when I heard it. I was also taken aback. I thought, what if Ami feels worse hearing the word adoption next to me, what if she gets more startled and anxious? I worried about that," and Ms. Lee Ami confessed, "When I first heard the word 'adoption' I didn't really know what it meant. I worried whether Mijjang would be okay." Ms. Lee Ami had thought that once they filed the marriage registration, her daughter Mijjang would also become Lee Ami's biological child. Baek Ji-young said, "We didn't know that a remarried family needs to go through adoption procedures when the partner has a child, so Min-woo and Ms. Ami would naturally not have known either," expressing sympathy.
Afterward Lee Min-woo met with family law specialist attorney Lee In-chul for a consultation. The lawyer asked, "Has the wife been living in Japan? Is she a Korean resident abroad?" Ms. Lee Ami explained that her nationality is Korean and that her daughter Mijjang holds dual Korean and Japanese citizenship. Lee Min-woo said, "I went to get a resident registration card issued, and they said Mijjang was a cohabitant. I was surprised," and the lawyer said, "Many people misunderstand that if you file a marriage registration, you generally think your spouse's child is also your family. Legally, that is not family. It's simply a cohabitant. A cohabitant living together. You must go through a special procedure. That is adoption."
He cautiously added, "We need to discuss a serious matter, but when talking about sensitive topics we separate the children. It might be better if she plays with her sister in the next room," and Lee Min-woo revealed, "My daughter has some separation anxiety," which surprised viewers. Ms. Lee Ami explained, "She has lived only with me for so long that with Yangyang coming and as time passes, those anxieties have increased a lot." Lee Min-woo shared an episode: "My wife briefly went to get food and the child was crying and causing a scene. I was so flustered. In a situation where things had been okay, I also had a panic attack and broke out in a cold sweat."
Watching this, Baek Ji-young expressed sympathy, "Mijjang's parents divorced when she was 2, and Ms. Ami raised Mijjang alone. So from age 2 until now she has lived only with her mother, so it's natural that being in an environment with someone else or without her mother would feel unsettling." Contrary to concerns, the daughter bravely stepped aside following Ms. Lee Ami's explanation, and Lee Min-woo continued with earnest questions, "I'm really curious how we can become a legal family."
The lawyer explained, "The most certain way is adoption. The father becomes the legal parent," adding, "A new relationship with adoptive parents is what 'general adoption' is. From Mijjang's perspective it would mean there is a biological father and an adoptive father, two people. With full adoption, the legal relationship with the biological father disappears and the new father's relationship becomes like the biological father's." Lee Min-woo chose full adoption without hesitation, saying, "I'll do full adoption." Eun Ji-won also empathized, "If I were Min-woo, I think Mijjang would prefer to be the biological child rather than adoptive. She would want to be my daughter; having two fathers wouldn't be great," showing agreement.
But full adoption required the biological father's consent. The lawyer asked, "Would that person agree to a full adoption?" and Ms. Lee Ami appeared flustered. The lawyer explained, "From that person's perspective the parental relationship would disappear, so in principle consent is required," and asked, "Have you received sufficient child support?" Ms. Lee Ami replied, "No." When asked, "Did he see the child often?" she again shook her head no. The lawyer then reassured them, "In that case there are exceptions where full adoption can be approved without the biological father's consent. We would need to demonstrate that."
The lawyer gently asked, "How do you think the biological father would feel?" and Ms. Lee Ami ultimately broke into tears. She explained why she cried: "I've raised Mijjang alone up to now. I cleaned up the family register and it took a lot of time, and I thought it was over, but I heard that the biological father's consent is still needed." She choked up again and said, "I didn't think remarriage would be easy, but I'm so grateful to the brother who accepted all of it," her eyes welling with tears.
Lee Min-woo vowed, "I will try harder so I can worry less in order to resolve this amicably." Meanwhile the lawyer advised Lee Min-woo and Ms. Lee Ami, "They are suffering a lot. The divorce process was hard. You might think everything can be overcome now because you are in love, but difficult times will come. I hope you remember one thing then: we are one family."
After the consultation, Lee Min-woo comforted them, "Don't worry, everything will be fine. OK?" He suggested taking a family photo with Ms. Lee Ami and her daughter. The three went to a nearby photo studio for a family portrait, and Park Seo-jin and Baek Ji-young, seeing the photo, smiled warmly saying, "The three of them look alike." Lee Min-woo said, "I was happy. I wanted to imprint on Mijjang that we are family," and Ms. Lee Ami said, "I felt we really became one family, and when Yangyang is born I thought I want to take a photo of the four of us next time," expressing joy.
[Photo] OSEN DB, KBS2
[OSEN]