A man in his 60s who evaded 120 million KRW in child support over 118 months receives a suspended prison sentence

Unpaid Child Support Totals 118 Million Won Over 118 Months

Photo of court documents. Photo by Yonhap News

A father who failed to pay over 100 million won in child support and was even ordered to be detained (a sanction involving temporary confinement) was sentenced to a suspended prison term.

On the 20th, Judge Lee Juhwang of the Ulsan District Court Criminal Division 9 announced that he sentenced Mr. A, a man in his 60s who was tried for violating the Act on the Guarantee and Support of Child Support Enforcement, to six months in prison with a two-year suspension.

Mr. A agreed in 2012, when he divorced his wife, to pay 1 million won monthly in child support until their then 4-year-old child reached adulthood. However, Mr. A never sent any child support to his wife, and by 2021, the unpaid child support had accumulated to 118 million won.

Accordingly, the Family Court issued an enforcement order in 2022 requiring Mr. A to pay 50 million won to his wife in monthly installments of 1 million won over 50 months, but Mr. A did not comply and was ordered detained by the court.

Despite this, Mr. A continued not to pay child support for over a year, eventually facing trial. The court explained the sentencing by stating, "We took into consideration that the defendant, albeit belatedly, paid 52 million won in child support to his wife after this case."

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