Sentenced to Imprisonment for Failing to Pay Child Support
Appellate Court Upholds Six-Month Prison Term for Man in His 50s
A man in his 50s who failed to pay tens of millions of won in child support for years was sentenced to imprisonment in the second trial.
According to Yonhap News on the 7th, the Jeju District Court Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Oh Chang-hoon) dismissed the appeal of Mr. A, a man in his 50s who was sentenced to six months in prison in the first trial for violating the Act on the Guarantee and Support of Child Support Enforcement.
The court upheld the first trial’s sentence of six months imprisonment. Mr. A, who had been on bail during the trial, was taken into custody in court following the appellate ruling.
Mr. A was indicted for failing to pay child support of 24 million won to his ex-spouse, Ms. B, from September 2018 to August 2022?about four years?without justifiable reason, despite a court order to pay the overdue child support.
Mr. A had also been ordered to detention for 10 days in August 2021 due to non-payment of child support, but it is reported that he still did not pay the child support at that time. Detention is a court decision to confine a person in a detention center, prison, or jail for violating court orders.
The appellate court stated, “Although the defendant made a criminal deposit of 7 million won during the second trial, the period of non-payment of child support was very long, and the unpaid amount was not insignificant. The custodial parent, Ms. B, suffered mental distress for a long time, and considering the circumstances that the defendant appeared to have little intention of paying child support from the beginning, we have made this judgment.”
Earlier in March, a man in his 50s who failed to pay child support for a minor child for 13 years after filing for divorce was also sentenced to imprisonment. Judge Park Jong-ung of the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 16 sentenced Mr. C (52) to four months in prison for violating the Act on the Guarantee and Support of Child Support Enforcement.
Mr. C had been ordered by the court in 2016 to pay 15 million won in overdue child support in installments of 1 million won per month for 15 months but continued to fail to pay, resulting in a detention order the following year.
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