American father's battle to find missing children in Korea

John Sichi, a U.S. citizen whose children have gone missing in Korea involving an international abduction case of his children by his Korean spouse, stages a treadmill protest in front of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Nov. 30. Sichi is demanding the Korean authorities to enforce court orders that the children should be returned to the U.S. under the Hague Convention. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

International parental child abduction case involving Korea-US couple remains unresolved for over two years

By Lee Hyo-jin

On a cold Nov. 30 afternoon, when temperatures nosedived to minus seven degrees Celsius in Seoul, bringing with it the nation's first cold wave alert of the season, John Sichi was walking on a treadmill in front of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul. Undeterred by the biting winds, the U.S. citizen walked for nearly four hours.

Near the treadmill stood a placard reading, "Please let me see my children," and a life-size cardboard cutout of his two kids ― a 5-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl.

People walking by approached him ― some with curiosity and some with empathy ― to see why a man would be walking on a treadmill in freezing weather. A woman handed him 10,000 won, probably assuming it was a fundraising campaign.

Sichi has been staging the treadmill protest since October in various spots in Seoul, in a desperate effort to find his missing children who have been allegedly abducted by his Korean wife.

His demand is simple: The Korean government should enforce court orders from both the U.S. and Korea that the children should be returned to the U.S.

His protest of walking on the treadmill for several hours, in fact, well describes his current situation. Over the last couple of years, his life has been tangled up in court proceedings over the international parental child abduction case by his spouse.

"I'm trying and trying, but I'm not able to reach them (my children)," said Sichi. "Now I'm asking for help from anyone."

John Sichi organizes banners behind a cutout of his children following a treadmill protest, Nov. 30. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

From international marriage to cross-border child abduction

The 53-year-old software engineer from San Francisco married his Korean wife in 2013 in the U.S., making her a permanent resident there. The couple gave birth to their son in January 2017, and then their daughter in December 2018. Both children obtained dual citizenship.

Wanting to become a stay-at-home dad, Sichi quit working to spend more time with his children. It was a happy family, he said, until some marital conflicts arose, resulting in his wife taking their children to Korea in November 2019.

"It was not a happy marriage at that point," Sichi admitted. "But it was a normal kind of situation, like those that arise due to cultural differences, which can happen in any other international marriage," he said.

"She [my wife] said she wanted to take some time to cool off with her family. So I said 'Okay, but you need to come back because this is our home here and the kids' home.'"

But the three never returned.

Sichi came to Korea in December 2019 and then again in January 2020, to persuade his wife to bring the children back to San Francisco. She had initially agreed, but at the end of February, she abruptly canceled the plane tickets for herself and the children.

John Sichi gestures during an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Seoul, Nov. 30. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Following his wife's refusal to negotiate, Sichi took the case to the courts in his home country. As a result of a months-long trial at the San Francisco County Superior Court, in which his wife participated via phone from Korea, in August 2020, the court ordered the children be returned to the U.S. ― their habitual residence.

Nevertheless, his wife did not comply. The U.S. court then assigned sole legal and physical custody to Sichi and authorized him to travel to Korea to retrieve his children.

In November 2020, Sichi filed a request to the Seoul Family Court for the return of his children under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (HCCAICA), accusing his wife of international parental child abduction.

International parental child abduction refers to the removal or retention of a child outside their country of habitual residence in breach of another parent or guardian's custody rights.

The Hague Convention is an international treaty aiming to protect children from international parental abductions among party countries, by encouraging the prompt return of the children to their country of habitual residence. Korea ratified the treaty in 2012 and stipulated related laws the following year.

Six months after Sichi's complaint, the Seoul Family Court ordered the immediate return of the children in accordance with the Hague Convention. The appellate and Supreme Court also sided with Sichi, dismissing the appeals filed by his wife.

However, his wife still did not comply with the Supreme Court order. The court sentenced her to a fine of 500,000 won in July this year and then to a 30-day detention as she continued to resist.

Since then, she has gone missing along with the children.

"I believe they are hiding somewhere in Korea, I hope they haven't flown away," said Sichi, explaining that he has been unable to locate them due to a lack of proper support from the police and the government.

He added, "Children aren't objects. You don't steal children, but time is something you can steal. Their time has been stolen," said Sichi, expressing concern for his children, who are cut off from their father and their American heritage.

The Korea Times reached out to Yulchon law firm, the legal representative of Sichi's wife, to hear her version of the story. But they were not available for comment.

"It is difficult to comment about the matter since it is an ongoing case," said an official at the law firm.

John Sichi shows a tattoo on his right arm during an interview with The Korea Times. Nov. 13 is the date when his wife took his two children to Korea in 2019, and never came back. "It's like I became a ghost on that day. I just found myself in an empty house with no kids and all their stuff; their books and toys and clothes," he said. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Flawed system

Sichi argued that Korea's flawed system is failing to support him. His demand for the government to comply with the Hague Convention ― to find the children and carry out direct court enforcement so that they can fly back to San Francisco ― has not been met due to weak mechanisms, he said.

"You see, the narrative here is not a 'husband versus wife' story but a father against a broken system," he said.

In May this year, court officials, accompanied by Sichi, went to his wife's apartment to execute the court order. But they could not retrieve the children due to the strong resistance of the mother, and also because their children did not consent to be separated from their mother.

Min Ji-won, an attorney at IPG Legal, Sichi's legal representative, said that the court order was exercised in a stressful environment for the young children.

"On that day, there were no child psychologists, no child protective services. The court officials didn't give Mr. Sichi a proper chance to talk with the children to explain his side of the story while their mother was yelling at us. The kids were in fear and didn't seem to have a clue about what was happening," she said.

John Sichi pauses during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, Nov. 30. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

In November, Sichi filed a police report to search for the missing children. The police officers only verified the safety of the children, with whom they met under the presence of their grandmother (not Sichi's wife), but did not specify their location.

"Since this is a civil case, I understand that the law enforcement authorities cannot actively conduct an investigation. But what I don't understand is the lack of the justice ministry's efforts to find the children and carry out the Hague convention," said Min.

The Ministry of Justice is the government body overseeing affairs on international parental abduction cases under the Hague Convention.

The lawyer said she and her client are considering whether to file a criminal complaint against the children's mother on charges of child abduction, which would enable the police to launch an intensive search.

The justice ministry, for its part, told The Korea Times that it is doing its best to help Sichi get his children back, in accordance with legislation regarding the Hague Convention.

"We are holding high-level talks with our U.S. counterparts to strengthen cooperation on the matter. We are having regular meetings since the first one was held in Washington on June 24," the ministry said in an email.

As to why it has not been able to locate the children, the ministry explained, "identifying the actual whereabouts is the role of the police and related probes are conducted in accordance to their rules. But as this is not a criminal case, and thus not subject to compulsory police investigations, it may be difficult to locate them."

The ministry added that it will come up with improvement measures to execute court orders, as indirect ways of enforcement ― sentencing fines and detentions ― have so far been ineffective.

John Sichi shows a photo of him with his daughter during his visit to Korea. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

US lists Korea as non-compliance country on Hague Convention

As Sichi's case remains far from being resolved, the U.S. State Department recently included Korea on a list of countries that are non-compliant with the Hague Convention, along with 10 other countries including Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras and Romania.

The annual report on international child abductions released in September says, "In 2021, the Republic of Korea demonstrated a pattern of noncompliance. Specifically, Korean law enforcement authorities regularly failed to enforce return orders in abduction cases."

Michelle Bernier-Toth, special advisor on children's affairs at State Department

It added, "While courts in the Republic of Korea ordered the return of children under the Convention, decisions for return were generally not enforced, including one case that was pending for more than two years as of December 31, 2021."

Moreover, Michelle Bernier-Toth, a special advisor on children's affairs at the U.S. State Department, arrived in Seoul on Dec. 4, to meet with the Korean authorities to address the case, according to the U.S. Embassy in Korea.

"Preventing and resolving cases of international parental child abduction (IPCA) is one of our top priorities. The Department engages actively with parents, stakeholders, and countries across the globe, to identify, resolve, and prevent IPCA cases," an embassy official told The Korea Times in an email, confirming Bernier-Toth's visit from Dec. 4 to 6.

Sichi, who met Bernier-Toth on Monday to discuss his case, said the U.S. authorities are urging the Korean government to speed up the process. The special advisor met with her counterparts at the justice and foreign ministries as well as the Supreme Court.

"There was also a lawyer from the State Department, an international law expert, present at the meeting (on Monday). I guess they are trying to pinpoint where Korea's domestic laws are incompatible with the Hague Convention," he said.

John Sichi gives out flyers to people on the streets during his treadmill protest held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Nov. 30. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul