86 parents disciplined for neglecting child support expenses

Eighty-six people will be given disciplinary measures for intentionally not paying for child support even after receiving orders from the court.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Friday it has decided to impose penalties on 86 of those who neglected their duty to pay child support expenses at the 29th Child Care Review Committee.

By type of disciplinary measures, there are six people whose identity has been revealed to the public, 41 people who are banned from leaving the country and 39 people whose driver’s licenses have been suspended.

The number of people disciplined for not paying child support expenses has continued to increase since the introduction of the policy in July 2021. In the second half of 2021 there were 27 people who received penalties. That increased to 151 in the first half of 2022 and 230 in the second half of 2022. This year, 97 and 86 people were disciplined in February and April, respectively.

Since the implementation of the policy, 45 people have had their identity revealed, 204 were banned from leaving the country and 320 had their driver's licenses suspended.

Some of those disciplined paid their overdue child support expenses. Since May 2022 to March this year, 15 people have fully paid their child support debts and 22 have partially paid overdue child support expenses.

Meanwhile, the Gender Ministry plans to support single-parent families with the First Basic Plan for Single-Parent Family Policy announced Monday. Family care centers across the country will provide counseling services and arrange meetings between the nonparenting parents and underage children.

In addition, Korea looks to revise the law to allow those seeking child care expenses access to information about the income and property of the parent not fulfilling the parental financial obligation, without the party's consent. This will shorten the litigation period by identifying the financial status of the debtor in a relatively short time, according to the ministry.