International child abduction in South Korea

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International child abduction in South Korea refers to the illegal removal of children from their country of habitual residence by an acquaintance or family member to South Korea, or their illegal retention in South Korea (officially referred to as the Republic of Korea, or ROK). This issue overlaps with related practices within the South Korean family law system (and culture), such as the lack of meaningful protection against domestic abductions and visitation interference, combined with the default expectation of sole custody (according to NGO FindMyParent). [1] Many of these practices also undermine South Korea's ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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Despite enacting legislation to address the problem in response to pressure from other countries, in particular the US, South Korea continues to face criticism for its handling of international child abduction cases. [2]

The Hague Child Abduction Convention

South Korea became a party to the Hague Child Abduction Convention in December 2012. [3] Its domestic implementation law entered into force on March 1, 2013. [4] The implementation act designates the Ministry of Justice as the Central Authority for both incoming and outgoing cases, and assigns exclusive jurisdiction over Hague child return cases to Seoul Family Court. [5] The first decision to return a child to a foreign country (Japan) was reached in 2016. [6]

Compliance failures

Each year, the US State Department Office of Children's Issues publishes compliance reports assessing how well other countries are handling the abduction issue. In its 2022 Annual Report on International Child Abduction, and then again in the 2023 Annual Report, the State Department cited South Korea as demonstrating a pattern of non-compliance with its Hague Convention treaty obligations. Problems were noted with judicial delays:

...cases were generally pending with the Korean judicial authorities for over one year. Additionally, while courts in the Republic of Korea ordered the return of children in Convention cases, the need for multiple enforcement proceedings resulted in delays. [7]

Of additional note was the lack of enforcement of finalized return decisions:

Specifically, Korean law enforcement authorities regularly failed to enforce return orders in abduction cases. As a result of this failure, 50 percent of requests for the return of abducted children under the Convention remained unresolved for more than 12 months. On average, these cases were unresolved for two years and ten months.…While courts in the Republic of Korea ordered the return of children under the Convention, decisions for return were generally not enforced, including one case that was pending for more than three years as of December 31, 2022. There were two cases (accounting for 100 percent of the unresolved cases) that have been pending for more than 12 months in which law enforcement has failed to enforce a return order. Additionally, left-behind parents can spend months in legal proceedings seeking to enforce the return order, resulting in delays to return. Unless the taking parent voluntarily complied with a return order under the Convention, judicial decisions in Convention cases in the Republic of Korea were generally not enforced, which contributed to a pattern of noncompliance. [8]

Protests and US diplomatic action

In response to the Hague compliance failures, affected parents from the United States launched protests both within South Korea [9] and in the US. [10]

In December 2022, the US State Department sent its Special Adviser for Children's Issues to Seoul to raise the issue directly with Korean government counterparts. [11] The Special Advisor also published an opinion piece in one of the main newspapers in Korea, the JoongAng Ilbo:

When I meet with left-behind parents who have had their children abducted to the ROK, I hear their stories of pain and hope. These parents spend years in multiple legal proceedings, compounding their misery and draining their resources. Courts and other authorities in both the ROK and United States agree: it is time to secure the prompt return of these children to their habitual residence. [12]

Additional high-level talks took place on an ongoing basis, as detailed in the 2022 [13] and 2023 [14] Action Reports on International Child Abduction from the US State Department.

These talks led to the creation of a task force team within the Korean government to address the issue. [15]

Enactment of reforms and continued criticism

As a result of the task force team work, in January 2024, the Supreme Court of Korea announced new enforcement regulations scheduled to go into effect on April 1, 2024. However, limitations in the scope of the reforms leave doubts about whether they will be sufficient to resolve the non-compliance issue. [16]
Ultimately these new regulations were found insufficient, leading to the Korean officials' inability or unwillingness to handle the abducting parent's resistance or the emotional impact on the children. [17] As a result of some abduction cases remaining unresolved, Korea was cited again for its non-compliance. [18] According to the action report [19] published by the Department of State of the United States, the US government has engaged with the Korean government on multiple levels to raise concerns over the lack of enforcement of Convention return orders. This includes the communication with the ROK president Yoon Suk Yeol, through his secretary, or Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State's direct communication with the Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The United States Congress held a hearing on September 10, 2024 on the current violators of Hague convention, in which South Korea was mentioned as one of the 16 non-compliant countries, including Argentina, Peru, Belize, Honduras, Montenegro and Ecuador. [20] The congress called for a whole-of-government approach towards the countries that do not respect the treaty, while Korea's failure to enforce the Hague return orders was highlighted by the witnesses from the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Office of Children's Issues. Representatives from both Democratic Party and Republican Party mentioned Korea regarding the failure to comply with the Hague convention. [21]

Notable pre-Hague cases

Before the Hague Abduction Convention went into effect in South Korea, the only options for left-behind parents were to either pursue criminal charges, or to try to recover their children via self-help attempts, assuming they were unable to establish custody rights through the Korean courts. This led to a number of very high-profile cases covered in news media worldwide:

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "South Korea Country Page". FindMyParent.
  2. ↑ Son, Ji-hypung (May 5, 2023). "Seoul's noncompliance with child abduction convention will pressure Yoon: lawmaker". The Korea Herald .
  3. ↑ "The Republic of Korea accedes to the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention". HCCH . December 13, 2012.
  4. ↑ Lee, Da-yeong (November 2, 2013). "S. Korea partners with U.S. under Hague Child Abduction Convention". The Korea Herald .
  5. ↑ Hague International Child Abduction Convention Implementation Act (11529). National Assembly. December 11, 2012.
  6. ↑ Lee, Kyung-min (February 15, 2016). "Court orders man to return children to Japanese mother". The Korea Times .
  7. ↑ Annual Report on International Child Abduction 2022 (PDF) (Report). US State Department. May 2022.
  8. ↑ Annual Report on International Child Abduction 2023 (PDF) (Report). US State Department. April 2023.
  9. ↑ Choi, Jae-hee (December 7, 2022). "'Bring my child back': American fathers cry foul". The Korea Herald .
  10. ↑ Ruiz, Michael (January 3, 2024). "American dad fights for return of young son kidnapped to Korea". Fox News .
  11. ↑ Choi, Jae-hee (December 5, 2022). "US envoy in Seoul to press Korea on cross-over child abduction". The Korea Herald .
  12. ↑ Bernier-Toth, Michelle (February 9, 2023). "부모 일방의 아이 탈취, 용납해선 안된다". JoongAng Ilbo .
  13. ↑ Action Report on International Child Abduction 2022 (PDF) (Report). US State Department. September 2022.
  14. ↑ Action Report on International Child Abduction 2023 (PDF) (Report). US State Department. July 2023.
  15. ↑ Lee, Hyo-jin (August 1, 2023). "Korea still fails to follow int'l child abduction pact despite diplomatic engagements: US report". The Korea Times .
  16. ↑ Jang, Jun-hyuk (January 18, 2024). "'헤이그 국제아동탈취협약에 따른 아동반환청구 사건의 집행에 관한 예규' 제정안에 대한 의견". Law Times.
  17. ↑ Kim, Tae-eon (August 20, 2024). "'빼앗긴 자녀 되찾으려 하는 외국인 아빠들… '질서' 없는 아동반환청구 강제집행 현장 [법조 Zoom In: 법정시그널]". Donga-Ilbo.
  18. ↑ Annual Report on International Child Abduction 2024 (PDF) (Report). US State Department. April 2024.
  19. ↑ Action Report on International Child Abduction 2024 (PDF) (Report). US State Department. July 2024.
  20. ↑ Lee, Taehyung (September 2024). "[단독] "제재해야"·"모든 수단 동원"…韓성토장 된 美하원 청문회". TV Chosun.
  21. ↑ The Goldman Act Turns 10: Holding Hague Convention Violators Accountable and Bringing Abducted American Children Home (Report). US Congress. September 2024.
  22. ↑ Vanbaale, Kali (April 2, 2021). "Tiffany Rubin and Kobe Lee: Where Are They Now?". A&E Networks .
  23. ↑ Pishko, Jessica (June 6, 2015). "After fleeing abuse, an immigrant mother faces losing her daughter forever". The Guardian .
  24. ↑ Fleming, Kirsten (March 7, 2010). "Musician mom held in kidnap". New York Post .
  25. ↑ Alejandro Mendoza v. Si-Nae Shim(Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate DivisionOctober 23, 2019), Text .
  26. ↑ Yu, Kun-ha (July 2, 2013). "A rational approach for Korea". The Korea Herald .
  27. ↑ Toqeer, Mahnoor (January 20, 2024). "Affaire Agathe Drancourt". Superstars Blog.
  28. ↑ 2019Do16421 (Korean Supreme Court, Division 2September 9, 2021).
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