{"id":2200215,"date":"2023-02-22T09:41:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T09:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2200215"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:09:40","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:09:40","slug":"south-korea-faces-scrutiny-over-handling-of-cross-border-child-abductions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2023\/02\/south-korea-faces-scrutiny-over-handling-of-cross-border-child-abductions\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea faces scrutiny over handling of cross-border child abductions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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.<\/span><\/p>\n His lawyers assured him that protections were in place for his son\u2019s 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But that was four years ago, and Sung is still fighting to have his six-year-old son returned to him, not for the lack of trying. In the past four years, he has obtained multiple return orders from the Seoul Family Court, which has exclusive jurisdiction over international abduction cases, and the Supreme Court of Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n Sung told <\/span>Korea Pro<\/span><\/i> that there had been a performance order and administrative fines totaling $8,400 (11 million won). His ex-wife was even sentenced to 15 days of detention. However, none of those sentences has compelled Sung\u2019s ex-wife to comply with the court\u2019s order to return their child.<\/span><\/p>\n The case is but one of several that have drawn attention to South Korea\u2019s noncompliance with its treaty obligations, a problem that has drawn criticism from even the U.S. government. And as so-called international marriages between South Koreans and foreigners become more common, these cases raise serious human rights concerns and risk damaging the country\u2019s reputation abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n WALKING BUT GETTING NOWHERE<\/b><\/p>\n Sung is not the only person whose former Korean spouse has taken their child, only to have discovered that the Korean legal system cannot do anything about it.<\/span><\/p>\n Court documents show John Sichi was granted sole legal and physical custody of his children by the Superior Court of San Francisco in Aug. 2020, and the same court reconfirmed this in October of that year. However, like Sung, Sichi\u2019s ex-wife took his children to South Korea, and he has not been able to see his children despite what the courts have said.<\/span><\/p>\n A Seoul Family Court judge ordered Sichi\u2019s ex-wife to return his children in June 2021. She unsuccessfully appealed the case twice before the Supreme Court of Korea and was fined $3,800 (5 million won) and sentenced to 30 days of detention for her refusal to comply. However, she has still not complied with the court\u2019s orders.<\/span><\/p>\n Frustrated with the inaction and lack of results concerning his case and hoping to spur public interest, Sichi began a one-person protest by <\/span>walking on a portable treadmill<\/span><\/a> at various locations in Seoul last November.<\/span><\/p>\n Last week, the Seoul Family Court made an unprecedented decision, ordering Sichi\u2019s ex-wife to pay $380 (500,000 won) every day if she fails to comply with earlier orders to return their children.<\/span><\/p>\n