164 Badfathers Subject to Travel Bans and Other Sanctions... Number Under Review Increases for Third Consecutive Year

Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Holds Child Support Enforcement Review Committee Meeting
Travel Ban, Driver's License Suspension, Public Disclosure of Names

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has decided to impose sanctions such as travel bans on 164 individuals who have failed to fulfill child support obligations.

On the 20th, the Ministry held the 36th Child Support Enforcement Deliberation Committee meeting and announced that 164 individuals were selected for sanctions due to non-payment of child support. The types of sanctions are ▲travel ban (117 people) ▲driver's license suspension (43 people) ▲public disclosure of names (4 people).

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol reiterated his pledge to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, stating, "Isn't it time for the ministry to fulfill its historical mission?" Meanwhile, on the 14th, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family at the Government Seoul Office, facing a crossroads regarding its existence, is stirring in a restless atmosphere. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

According to the Ministry, since the implementation of sanctions in July 2021, the number of subjects under review has been increasing. To date, a total of 630 people have been subject to sanction reviews, of whom 163 have paid all or part of their child support debt. The number of people subject to sanctions due to non-payment of child support has also increased for the third consecutive year. The number of sanctioned individuals in the first half of 2022 was 151, which nearly tripled to 432 in the same period of 2024.

Under the Act on the Assurance and Support of Child Support Payments, child support debtors who fail to fulfill their obligations are subject to criminal penalties such as driver's license suspension, travel bans, and public disclosure of their names.

Following the amendment of the Act on the Assurance and Support of Child Support Payments (Child Support Enforcement Act) in March, from September, sanctions against child support debtors will be possible solely through enforcement orders without detention orders. Additionally, the Ministry is currently announcing subordinate legislation that specifies the targets of sanctions.

[Source=Ministry of Gender Equality and Family]

However, during the 20th National Assembly, a bill including a child support advance payment system?where unpaid child support is first provided to single-parent households and then recovered from the non-custodial parent?was proposed but failed to pass and was discarded.

Shin Young-sook, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, stated, "With the Child Support Enforcement Act taking effect in September this year, not only will the sanction procedures be simplified, but the Child Support Enforcement Agency will become an independent institution, marking significant progress in policies to ensure child support payments. We will steadily carry out planned tasks from preparing subordinate legislation to the independence process of the Enforcement Agency."

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