[News Terms] Enforcement Agency for Child Support Payments Imposes Sanctions if Payments Are Not Made 'Yangyukbi Ihaeng Gwalliwon'

by Kim Jonghwa

Published 14 Apr.2023 09:50(KST)

'Yangyukbi Implementation Management Agency' is an institution that supports custodial parents (creditors) in receiving child support payments from non-custodial parents. It is an organization under the Korea Healthy Family Promotion Agency and was established in March 2015.

It handles counseling related to child support between custodial and non-custodial parents, legal support for claiming and securing child support enforcement, temporary emergency child support, collection support for child support claims confirmed by agreement or court ruling, transfer of child support to custodial parents, and sanctions against those who fail to fulfill child support obligations.

A website that discloses the personal information of ex-spouses who do not pay child support after divorce, called "Bad Fathers" (Bad Fathers·Nappeun Appadeul). Although the site name specifies fathers, it reveals the personal information of individuals who fail to pay child support regardless of gender. There are criticisms of discrimination against men, but since 80% of child support victims are women, the site was named "Bad Fathers."
[Photo by 'Bad Fathers' screen capture]

Among these, 'Temporary Emergency Child Support' is one of the most important tasks of the Yangyukbi Implementation Management Agency. It provides temporary emergency child support to child support creditors whose children's welfare is endangered or at risk due to non-receipt of child support. It supports 200,000 KRW per child per month for a total of 9 months temporarily, and if the crisis situation continues, it can be extended once for an additional 3 months.

Sanctions against those who fail to fulfill child support obligations are also enforced. The Yangyukbi Implementation Management Agency publishes a list of individuals who have failed to fulfill their child support obligations on its website. As of the 14th, the list includes the highest amount defaulter who has not paid 145.8 million KRW in child support for 9 years and 8 months, and the longest non-payment defaulter who has not paid 64.4 million KRW for 13 years and 8 months.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family also decided and announced 86 individuals subject to sanctions for child support non-payment at the 29th Child Support Deliberation Committee held that day. By type of sanction, 6 were publicly listed, 41 were banned from leaving the country, and 39 had their driver's licenses suspended.

Since the system was introduced in July 2021, the number of sanctions has continued to increase. The number of subjects was 27 in the second half of 2021, increasing to 151 in the first half of last year, 230 in the second half, and 97 in February and 86 in April this year. Since the sanctions were implemented, there have also been cases of payment of child support arrears. From May last year to March this year, a total of 15 people fully paid their child support debts, and 22 people paid partially.