A family court in Osaka, Japan, has reportedly refused to appoint an ethnic Korean as a mediator.

Kyodo News said that the Osaka Bar Association requested the appointment of a long-term Korean resident with Korean nationality as a family court mediator.

However, the Osaka family court turned it down. The court argued that a mediator is a government employee of Japan, and therefore the person in that position must be a Japanese citizen.

The Osaka Bar Association urged the family court and the Supreme Court of Japan to reconsider, saying Japanese law does not dictate that a foreign national may not be a family court mediator.