Sons and daughters who have aged parents living with them or defray more than half of their parents' living expenses will inherit their parents estate plus a 50% bonus. The Ministry of Justice plans to introduce a so-called 'filial piety inheritance law' draft to the national assembly next August. If passed, the law will be implemented early next year. Currently, the spouse of the deceased gets a 50% bonus added on to his or her inheritance if the will does not specify otherwise and children share the remainder equally. In the new law, the children will get their own inheritance with 50% added-on if they have their parents living with them.

Another draft proposes a law which states one cannot marry one's cousins, replacing the now extinct one that prohibits marriages between people with the same surname and the same family origin. The revised draft also deletes the current law which prohibits women remarrying within six months of their husbands' death.

(Bang Sung-mee, ssbang@chosun.com )