Jung Woo-sung promised, but what if he doesn’t pay child support? Expert: “This is how you will be punished”

As actor Jung Woo-sung admits that the child revealed by model Moon Gabi is his own, interest in childcare responsibilities when giving birth without marriage is increasing. Although Jung Woo-sung promised to fulfill his child-rearing responsibilities, it was found that in Korean society, single parents often do not receive proper child support from the other parent.
 
An expert who spoke with Segye Ilbo on the 28th emphasized the importance of keeping promises, saying, “If Jung Woo-sung does not pay child support, he will be punished.”
 
Previously, model Moon Ga-bi (35) announced that she had given birth to actor Jung Woo-sung (51)'s child in March.
 
Since then, interest in ‘unmarried childbirth’ has increased, but there are still voices calling for improvement in systems and awareness as there are still obstacles to living as a single mother in Korean society, such as economic problems and social prejudice.
 
In an interview with MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' on the 26th, Choi Hyun-sook, the representative of the single mothers' association 'Intree', who revealed that she gave birth without marriage in 2004, pointed out, "In the case of 'non-marital birth', the biological father is rarely responsible."
 
He argued, “Even though the court ruled at the time of divorce, there are not many non-custodians who pay child support,” adding, “Single mothers give birth to children alone, and there is not even a ruling (specifying responsibility for child support in the event of divorce). Most men cut off contact as soon as they become pregnant, or there are many cases where they cannot contact them because they have already broken up.”
 
According to the Act on Securing and Supporting Child Support (Child Support Implementation Act) and the Domestic Litigation Act, parents who do not directly raise minor children must faithfully pay child support determined by agreement or court ruling to parents who directly raise minor children.
 
This bill is intended to create an environment for the growth of minor children, regardless of the parents' marital status, and child support must be paid from birth until the child reaches the age of 19.
 
If the child support debtor who does not directly raise the child refuses to pay, he or she may file a lawsuit claiming child support for non-payment of child support. The family court can also issue an order to pay child support.
 
However, despite these sanctions, the obligation to pay child support is not being met. According to the ‘Legislative Impact Analysis of the Child Support Implementation Act’ report released by the National Assembly Research Service in 2022, the child support compliance rate applied by single mothers in 2021 was found to be only 33.6%. In the case of divorced fathers and divorced mothers, they were 53.9% and 59.5%, respectively, with single mothers receiving the lowest child support rate.
 
The overall child support compliance rate, which was 38.3% in 2021, increased significantly to 44.7% as of September this year. Nevertheless, more than half of single parents raising children are still unable to receive child support even after receiving confirmation of payment of child support.
 
Representative Choi said, "The process to receive child support is complicated and takes a long time. Even if you go through all the procedures and find the father, there is a law (forcing child support), but in fact, if you don't pay it, it's okay," pointing out that the law has no practical effect.
 
He added, “It is very important to force non-custodians to pay child support,” and emphasized that the most difficult part for single mothers in reality is their economic situation.
 
Regarding non-payment of child support, lawyer Do Il-seok of Daeryun Law Firm told Segye Ilbo on this day, “Non-payment of child support is equivalent to a crime of impunity against the will,” and “If Jung Woo-sung does not pay child support, the child support deliberation committee may suspend his driver’s license, ban him from leaving the country, and reveal him on the list of defaulters.”
 
He then explained, “If child support is not paid, the other woman can apply for a compliance order,” and “if the compliance order is violated, a fine may be imposed.”
 
At the same time, he added, “In particular, if you do not comply with the implementation order, you can apply for a detention order, and if you violate the detention order, you can be imprisoned for up to one year and fined up to 10 million won,” but added, “However, since it is a crime of impunity against the will, such punishment can be avoided through agreement.”
 
Meanwhile, starting from July next year, the 'child support payment system' is expected to be introduced, where the state pays child support to the child first in the event of default on child support obligations and recovers it from the debtor, further strengthening the child support implementation support system.
 
The government is strengthening sanctions against child support debt by separating the Child Support Implementation Management Center, which was an internal organization of the Korea Healthy Family Promotion Agency, into a separate agency to strengthen the function of child support payment and recovery, and by simplifying the sanctions procedure for non-payers of child support from the existing three stages of 'performance order → detention order → sanctions' to allowing sanctions to be initiated immediately after the performance order.

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