South Korea moves to sanction 'bad fathers' who skip child support

The government is moving to sanction so-called "bad fathers" — parents who refuse to pay court-ordered child support.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced Sunday that it held the 51st Child Support Enforcement Review Committee on June 8 and 9, voting to impose a total of 184 sanctions against 166 child support defaulters. The measures include 120 travel bans, 41 driver's license suspensions and 23 public disclosures of names.

Under the current Child Support Enforcement Act, sanctions may be imposed on anyone who fails to comply for more than 30 days after receiving a lump-sum payment order in a family court ruling, or who has missed child support payments three or more times — or accumulated unpaid amounts exceeding 30 million won — despite a court enforcement order.

The number of sanctions has risen steadily, from 359 in 2022 to 639 in 2023, 947 in 2024 and 1,389 last year. This year, 720 sanctions were approved in the first half alone. The average unpaid child support debt stood at around 45 million won, while the largest single debt reached approximately 192 million won.

"Single-parent families who must bear the burden of raising children alone — because child support is not paid on time — still face significant hardship," Minister Won Min-kyung said. "Child support is the minimum responsibility for a child's growth and well-being, and we will develop effective measures to enforce it."