ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s, modern South Korea has been experiencing a revitalisation of Neo-Confucian values on the one hand, and the assimilation of Western legislative models into Korean ‘customary law’ on the other. Agnatic adoption (i.e. adoption of relatives related through the father’s side) or what I call institutionalised adoption is just a part of a complex whole relating to internalised values, the family and lineage system, ritual, politics, status considerations, claims to inherited ancestral land and tenancy rights. Some of the 1990 amendments to the South Korean Civil Code of 1960 propose dramatic alterations with respect to agnatic adoption. However, considering Korean attitudes towards law (Pak 1982: 14f.), it remains to be seen how Korean society will react. In theory, the 1990 amendments have legally paved the way for a change of the dominant kinship system characterised by a patrilineal ideology.
