John Sitch is holding a ‘treadmill protest’ in front of the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency in April last year, demanding the return of his children. [중앙포토]
“If you go to my wife’s house again, I will arrest you.”
A police station in Busan on January 19th. American Mike Fallon (50) couldn’t believe his ears when he heard the Korean detective’s words. In August of last year, after his wife, Lee, unilaterally stole their son and disappeared, he came to Korea after receiving a decision on the return of the child and custody from a U.S. court. The Korean court also allowed him to conduct interview negotiations.
However, when he went to his wife’s house to meet his son and rang the doorbell, his wife called the police. Documents containing court decisions were useless. The police took him to the police station, and only after contacting the U.S. Embassy was he able to leave the police station.
U.S. Department of State Designates Korea as a ‘Child Stealing Country’ for 3rd Year
The court clock was slow. The Hague International Child Abduction Convention, an international convention to prevent child abduction, recommends that courts in each country make a decision within six weeks of receiving a return request. However, the Korean court did not decide on the return of his son until half a year after Fallon’s request for return was received last May, and when Fallon tried to provisionally enforce the court decision after a long wait, his wife had already moved out. It was difficult to expect active intervention from court enforcement officers or the police, who said, “There is nothing they can do.” It’s been 14 months since her son was taken from her, but Fallon still hasn’t gotten him back. He lowered his head and said, “Korea’s passive response is making the problem more complicated.”
The story of foreigners coming to Korea in search of stolen children is not something new. John Sitch, the ‘treadmill dad’ who ran in front of Gangnam Station to retrieve the children stolen from his Korean wife, only got them back in April, four years and six months later. On the other hand, Jay Sung, a dentist known as ‘Dad from Seattle’, still has not received his son back. In 2019, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indicted Seong’s wife for child kidnapping, and a Korean court also recognized Seong’s custody, but Seong’s wife has not returned the child even after receiving a fine.
As a result of this situation, even the U.S. Congress is pouring in criticism, saying, “Korea is a safe zone for child snatchers.” At a U.S. House hearing held last September, Chris Smith, chairman of the U.S. House Human Rights Committee, mentioned cases of children’s human rights violations in Korea and raised his voice, saying, “We must ensure that Korea complies with the Hague Convention, even if it means imposing economic sanctions.”
Korea has already been designated by the U.S. State Department as a country that has not implemented the Hague Convention for three consecutive years. Among the 16 countries on this list, only Korea and Poland are member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Local predictions are that if the controversy over child abduction continues, Korea will likely be re-designated as a non-compliant country next year. Michelle Bernier Toth, Special Assistant to the U.S. State Department, also pointed out at the hearing, “The child return ruling is not being implemented because Korean enforcement officers are not following court orders.”
The Hague Convention was enacted in 1980 to prevent illegal child abduction and guarantee the right of children to live safely in the place where they usually grew up. The Hague Judicial Conference also emphasized that it is in the child’s interest to return the child to the familiar place where he/she grew up as quickly as possible. This is because if contact with one parent is restricted for a long time due to child abduction, the child’s will may be distorted. Korea has also been enforcing related laws since joining the Hague Convention in 2012. However, in reality, as the law was not applied properly, the number of American victims continued, and it eventually became a major issue in the U.S. Congress.
As such, experts believe that one of the biggest obstacles to the fact that the Hague Convention’s child return provisions do not guarantee effectiveness in Korea is the social sentiment that is tolerant of parental child abduction. While the United States and European countries, which have long been interested in children’s human rights, judge that when one parent unilaterally steals or hides a child, it is serious child abuse and respond with a serious crime, Korea asks, “What’s the problem if the parents keep it?” It is pointed out that the response is lukewarm. Noel Hunter, a professor at the University of Alabama, also said in a phone call with a reporter, “In fact, U.S. federal law defines unilateral taking from a parent as a crime, and it is common for courts to sentence children to prison.”
On the other hand, in Korea, there is virtually no action that can be taken even if one parent disappears with the child. Even when parents who have had their children stolen, like Fallon, present documents obtained from a Korean court, they are even dragged to the police station on charges of stalking or trespassing. Attorney Hwang Yoon-jeong, who is handling Pelon’s case, said, “There must be regulations in place so that parents who have stolen a child can receive police support if they refuse to return the child, and the court also needs to make a decision to return the child more quickly.”
“The essence of the problem is damaging children’s human rights and welfare.”
Courtney Mathieson (26) also married a Korean husband and lived in Korea after giving birth, but has rarely been able to see her son since her husband and mother-in-law took her away from her. He criticized, “Child abduction by parents is not a matter of gender or nationality,” and “the essence of the problem is that one selfish parent severs the relationship with the other parent and undermines the human rights and welfare of the child.”
Song Mi-kang, head of the Parental Bullying Prevention Association, said, “In the United States and Europe, the act of kidnapping a child and preventing him or her from meeting the other parent is defined as ‘parental bullying’ and is being dealt with strictly.” He added, “Children who have experienced parental bullying are treated even if they become adults. “As the ability to control emotions is low and the possibility of experiencing depression is high, it is time to take effective measures before it is too late,” he said.
Reporter Hwang Geon-gun hwang.kunkang@joongang.co.kr
