[Photo by Korean Air Lines Co.]

<이미지를 클릭하시면 크게 보실 수 있습니다>

South Korea’s flag carrier Korean Air Lines Co. recognized a same-sex female couple as family by granting the same-family mileage sharing program, a significant move in the patriarchal business empire in a traditionally conservative society.

According to sources from the airline industry on Thursday, the nation’s largest full-service carrier registered a gay couple as family on its SkyPass mileage program on Monday, a day before Human Rights Day that falls on December 10 every year. The couple submitted a marriage certificate issued in Canada, the sources found.

Korean Air allows its SkyPass members to share their mileage with their family including spouse, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, parents-in-law, son and daughter-in-law, when they submit a set of documentation proving their relationships as family.

Same-sex partners, however, have been denied such benefits because their marital status is not legally recognized under the Korean law. In the recent case, Korean Air could register the couple as married because they handed over legal proof of marriage received in Canada that legalizes same-sex marriage.

The airline said it was not an exceptional case, and it gives the benefits to members and their families only when their family ties are proved legal.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]