Jay Sung, a father of a six-year-old child from Washington state, has been petitioning the South Korean government for a legal amendment. Several years ago, during mediation in his divorce proceedings, he agreed to let his soon-to-be ex-wife take their son on a three-week trip to South Korea, where her family resides.

His lawyers assured him that protections were in place for his son’s return since South Korea is a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction. The multilateral treaty seeks to protect children from being improperly removed to a third country by one parent and sets out a framework that signatory countries should follow to ensure the prompt return of children across international borders.