Cases of parents failing to pay child support for extended periods after divorce continue to mount in Korea, with some defaulting for more than 20 years and unpaid amounts exceeding 300 million won.
A total of 366 child support defaulters have been subject to public name disclosure over the past three years, according to data released on the 31st of last month by the Child Support Agency under the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
The unpaid child support owed by these individuals totaled 17.31 billion won, with an average of approximately 47.3 million won per person.
The largest unpaid amount in a single case reached 344.307 million won, while the smallest was 2.8 million won.
The average duration of non-payment was five years and six months. The shortest period of non-payment was seven months, while the longest stretched to 20 years and seven months.
The average age of defaulters was 44. By age group, those in their 40s were the most numerous at 168, followed by 94 in their 50s, 92 in their 30s, eight in their 20s and four in their 60s.
By occupation, company employees made up the largest group at 59, followed by eight day laborers, seven self-employed workers and two corporate executives. However, occupations could not be confirmed for 282 cases, accounting for a significant share.
Under the current Child Support Enforcement Act, individuals can be subject to public disclosure if they fail to comply with a court-ordered child support payment for more than 30 days, miss payments three or more times after a court enforcement order, or owe more than 30 million won in unpaid support.
In addition to public name disclosure, the government is imposing administrative sanctions including overseas travel bans and driver's license suspensions.
Sanctions against child support defaulters have been increasing every year. The total number of sanctions rose from 359 in 2022 to 639 in 2023 and 947 in 2024, climbing further to 1,389 last year.
The government plans to strengthen its response to the issue of unpaid child support.
"Together with the Child Support Agency, the dedicated body for child support enforcement, we will further strengthen counseling and litigation support, as well as collection and seizure measures, to secure child support payments," an official from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said.
