A Washington state father is pleading with Korean authorities to return his son – whose non-custodial mother is wanted in the US for allegedly abducting the child overseas and defying court orders in both countries to return him.
Bryan Sung, now 7, was just 3 years old when his mother, Min Jung Cho, 42, allegedly took him away to his native South Korea in June 2019.
Bryan’s father, Dr. Jay Sung, 43, said he has won court battles in the US and abroad but remains estranged from his son, who he has now been unable to see for more than half of the child’s life.
“Korea has done nothing to protect [Bryan],” the orthodontist told Fox News Digital. “They should send the US citizen back to his home, where the law can be enforced, and he can be protected.”
Although Sung was initially granted full custody, the judge overseeing their divorce allowed each parent to take Bryan to Korea for up to three weeks a year.
Cho took Bryan to South Korea and, on the last day of the scheduled trip, his lawyer called Sung and said the boy would not be returned to the United States, he said.
A Washington state father is pleading with Korean authorities for the return of his son – whose mother is not wanted in the US for custody because she allegedly kidnapped the child overseas. Bringbackbryan / Facebook
Sung, who had no confirmation at the time of her son’s whereabouts, filed a missing persons report in Redmond, Washington.
South Korean police eventually located Bryan at his maternal grandmother’s house – but Sung said they told him the case would have to be settled in civil court.
Sung was born in South Korea but spent much of his childhood in Ohio.
He served in the South Korean army and returned to the US to study dentistry at UCLA. He is now an orthodontist in Washington – and he and his son are US citizens.
Min Jung Cho, 42, allegedly took her son with her to South Korea in June 2019. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Cho did not, and his permanent residency was revoked after he failed to return for more than a year, Sung said.
A Washington state warrant for Cho’s arrest has been in effect since April 20, 2020, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Sung filed a petition under the Hague Convention, which regulates international child abduction, trafficking and adoption, in 2019, he said.
During the years-long process, the court ruled in his favor, and Cho then exhausted his appeals. But he refused to hand over the boy, his father said.
The child’s father, Dr. Jay Sung, said he won court battles in the US and abroad but remains separated from his son. Bringbackbryan / Facebook
Although Korean courts have repeatedly ruled in Sung’s favor, he said the country’s laws have compliance gaps that prevent law enforcement from forcibly abducting children.
Now, Sung says he is the only legal guardian recognized by any country but is powerless because Korean authorities refuse to enforce a lawsuit to have the child returned to his father.
They even arrested Cho twice and fined him, he said – but did not return his son.
Sung has launched a social media campaign demanding the South Korean government do more to return her son and staged a one-person protest outside the Korean consulate in Seattle.
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Sung’s fate has gained the support of his local congressman, Rep. Kim Schrier, as well as the State Department and the FBI.
The State Department has in recent years reprimanded South Korea for a “pattern of non-compliance” under the Convention following the performance of the country’s law enforcement services on court-ordered returns.
“Specifically, [Republic of Korea] law enforcement authorities frequently fail to enforce return orders in abduction cases,” the State Department’s 2023 Action Report on International Child Abduction reads. “As a result of this failure, 50 percent of requests to return abducted children under the Convention remain unresolved for more than 12 months.”
However, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that while South Korean counterparts are cooperating in Bryan’s case, US diplomats have raised issues with their Korean counterparts regarding the country’s lengthy repatriation process.
“Regarding the case of Dr. Sung and other similar examples, we have raised this issue with Republic of Korea officials in Washington and in Seoul many times and have expressed our concern about the lengthy judicial proceedings in that country and the lack of enforcement of the return of the Hague Abduction Convention. order,” said the spokesperson.
A spokesman for the Seattle FBI office said the bureau was given jurisdiction over certain child abduction cases under the 1932 “Lindbergh Act,” also known as the Federal Kidnapping Act, following the kidnapping of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh’s then-2-year-old son. .
The 43-year-old father said he has now been unable to see more than half of the child’s life. Bringbackbryan / Facebook
“Child abduction cases can take a long time and also require coordination with other law enforcement agencies, inside and outside the US, and with our law office, which continues the FBI’s overseas missions,” he said.
The average time to resolve a child abduction in South Korea is just under three years, according to the State Department Action Report.
If he’s not reinstated by April, Bryan will be gone for five years.
Even South Korean lawmakers have held hearings on the issue and determined that their system is flawed and have begun devising reforms, Sung said.
If he is not reinstated in April, Dr. Jay Sung would not see his son for five years. Bringbackbryan / Facebook
Korean officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Although the case is reminiscent of the 2000 operation to return Cuban shipwreck victim Elian Gonzalez to his father, Sung disputes the idea that Korean police should send in a SWAT team to rescue his son.
“If that’s really necessary and that’s the only way to get the child back, I’m not against it,” he told Fox News Digital. “But at the same time, using ‘violence’ on the child doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to do it in a very traumatic way. Sometimes force is necessary: If a child doesn’t want to go to school, sometimes you have to use force to get them into the car.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
