I’m not sure if an increase in “deadbeat dads” is at all related to the growing number of foreigners residing in Korea, but still, establishing some sort of legal mechanism to get child support from fathers who flee the country doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
Whether that’s legally possible, of course, is a different matter.
20 Comments
There already is a relevant international treaty: The Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children.
Korea is not a party to this treaty. If Korea acceded to the Hague Child Protection Convention, then there would be at least a chance for meaningful international cooperation on these issues.
But it cuts both ways: Korea would have to cooperate with foreign countries. Right now, Korea is a haven for Korean parents who kidnap their children away from (mostly American) foreign jurisdictions where they don’t like the court order in respect of custody and support. Joining the Hague Convention will take away this “right” from Koreans, which is why I don’t foresee much progress toward accession.
I recently met a guy from Toronto who married a Korean woman, had a child, and then they divorced. It was her second marriage and her third kid and she’s since remarried and had another kid. When she remarried she decided she wanted the other kid (that she had with the Toronto man). According to him she took him to court, said he abused their daughter (for which… as you can imagine… he underwent a complete investigation by the Korean police). He ended up winning the case and is now living and working in Korea, raising the girl by himself. Kind of heroic.
And it wouldn’t be a story in Korea without:
He’s presently trying to convince his university to allow him to bypass leaving the country to get his criminal background check.
I’m not sure writing about foreigners knocking up Koreans and then leaving is useful. There’s already plenty of nasty rumors about foreigners. Let the Koreans focus on their own men impregnating the women and then leaving. I’m sure there’s enough of that going around without having to focus on whitey again.
By the same token, the writer is a foreigner, and perhaps foreigners should focus on their own problems without the “Koreans do it, too!” excuse.
#1, and #2,
Thanks for posting…I’ve read somewhere that Korean courts often ignore rulings made by foreign courts concerning the separation of assets in a divorce, so I’ve been wondering if they were biased in any way when it comes to determining custody of children when one of the spouses isn’t Korean.
…or rather, when one of the parents isn’t Korean.
It’s not only a problem of deadbeat dads flocking to Korea. There’s also the problem of “Christian” EFL teachers who are simultaneously students of biblical studies. Fight on, whack job! Maybe one day you’ll fix yourself.
The problem is dead beat Korean national fathers and mothers for that matter can easily be dead beats. I know of three right off the top of my head.
What I meant to write in proper English was that it is relatively easy to be a dead beat parent in Korea. It doesn’t take being a foreigner….
Yes, deadbeat parents are horrible!
However, I’m so sick and f***ing tired of these holier than thou, know it all, tattle tales who keep running to the Korean media to print up their thoughts on how awful/evil their fellow expats are.
Steve Shertzer, Archeologist, the lot of them. Not that I am saying that all christians are like this, but a majority of these holier than thou a$$holes are fundamentalists bible thumpers.
Get off your f***ing high horse and stop trying to paint all us waygooks in Korea as evil, selfish, good for nothings in the Korean media. They do enough of that themselves.
They, and certainly we, don’t need your “help”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
True, Robert.
However, airing it in a Korean newspaper is just a bad idea. My (Korean) wife just heard from clueless woman how often foreign men beat their wives.
Koreans don’t need any more fuel for their fire.
“However, I’m so sick and f***ing tired of these holier than thou, know it all, tattle tales who keep running to the Korean media to print up their thoughts on how awful/evil their fellow expats are.”
I know. Is writing these kinds letters a required step in the process of contract renewal at Christian private schools and universities?
“Is writing these kinds letters a required step in the process of contract renewal at Christian private schools and universities?”
You may be on to something Tripod!
@11
Back in the ’90s, there was a Korean “news” magazine show that did an exposé on 국제결혼, which ended up being about how foreigner men abuse Korean women. The most amusing story was about a GI who they claimed kept a hammer under the bed (nothing about beatings, just the implication from a hammer being kept under the bed).
If you want to put “published in national newspaper” on your C.V., come to Korea and write an article criticizing foreigners.
#14,
If only it was only that one show…
Yes, deadbeat parents are horrible!
However, I’m so sick and f***ing tired of these holier than thou, know it all, tattle tales who keep running to the Korean media to print up their thoughts on how awful/evil their fellow expats are.
Steve Shertzer, Archeologist, the lot of them. Not that I am saying that all christians are like this, but a majority of these holier than thou a$$holes are fundamentalists bible thumpers.
Get off your f***ing high horse and stop trying to paint all us waygooks in Korea as evil, selfish, good for nothings in the Korean media. They do enough of that themselves.
They, and certainly we, don’t need your “help”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wah! Stop telling on me! He did it too!
Ah…reminds me of 3rd grade.
I was always trying to get my gfs pregnant when I lived in Korea so I could convince them to get married. I needed a green card, but I failed
I suspect the soju was killing off your sperm count!
Does the Dr. Phil Show get air time on cable/satellite tv packages in Korea? Nothing like American TV to air out its dirty laundry in public. Korean media has container loads of American scandals to last years.