Sanctions on non-payment of child support...What's the actual effect?

■ Host: Anchor Jeong Jin-hyung and anchor Lee Eun-sol
■ Starring: Shin Young-sook, Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN New Square 8PM] when quoting.


[Anchor]
The problem of non-custodial parents who do not pay child support is getting worse as time goes by. It is said that the government has achieved more results than in the past as it strengthened child support sanctions this year. On the one hand, there are still challenges that remain. Let's take Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family Shin Young-sook to talk about it. Please come in. The problem of parents who don't pay child support after divorce. In fact, it is becoming a social problem, and Deputy Minister, how many single-parent families do you understand that Korea does not receive adequate child support?

[Shin Young Sook]
A survey of single-parent families conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family was conducted. According to that, there are about 350,000 single-parent households raising our underage children, as of last year. Among them, about 17,000 households have bonds and do not receive child support. However, if you have bonds, you can't receive them, and most of them don't receive child support, there are many single parents who don't have bonds at all. We see it as about 79% of them, but it's often more difficult because they're the ones who decided not to receive child support when they get divorced, or when they break up. But as I said earlier, the policy targets are single parents who raise their children even though they have bonds. I would like to support these people a lot with such policy targets.

[Anchor]
It's a sad reality. The government has tightened sanctions on so-called bad parents who don't give child support again, right?

[Shin Young Sook]
We are steadily improving our policies on those areas. There is a law related to the implementation of child support in 2021. The sanctions were revised and included in it. There are about three sanctions. The first is to disclose the list, and the second is to request a suspension of the driver's license. Then, three sanctions were introduced, which the third requested a ban on departure. But this sanction was introduced.There are a lot of difficulties to dry. Basically, in order to implement sanctions, you must be ordered to implement them through trial. So if you receive that order, if it is not fulfilled over three periods, you will be ordered to imprison it in a detention center again. Therefore, it took two to four years to go from the implementation order to the sanction because sanctions had to be imposed when this did not happen even after the detention order was issued.

[Anchor]
We prepared a graphic. That period has been shortened from six months to a year, right?

[Shin Young Sook]
So, in September, we revised the related laws. Therefore, even if there is no detention order, if the court does not pay more than three times, sanctions can be imposed, so it can be very effective in terms of effectiveness. During that long period of time, the child is already all grown up. If that happens, it will be a case of missing the time to receive support. That's why it has been improved into a very effective system.

[Anchor]
Problems with parents not giving child support just a few years ago. When this came up socially, that part of the detention order was an obstacle, but this part was improved.

[Shin Young Sook]
You've discussed a lot of these issues socially in the National Assembly. So, the forward-looking ruling and opposition parties consulted, so we were able to include the amendment in the law.

[Anchor]
Are there any aggregated things that have improved numerically?

[Shin Young Sook]
The law went into effect on September 27. So, the number of people subject to sanctions has certainly increased compared to last year, even if it is not for a long period, but even for a short period. Representatively, there were about 360 requests for a ban on departure last year, but this year, there were more than 500 requests. So I confirmed that this is effective, and I think that if the practical system comes into effect early next year, it will probably have a greater effect.

[Anchor]
The foundation for the breathing of single-parent families suffering has been laid, so you can evaluate it like this. In fact, the biggest problem is changing the name of the property. That's why I'm holding out for being unable to pay, but is there a system that can help me with this?

[Shin Young Sook]
As you said, changing the name of the property to avoid child support is a difficult case to understand. But this happened. Then, as I said earlier, if you do this, you may be subject to sanctions, and as we said earlier, there may be parts where you are arrested by a detention order under the Domestic Litigation Act. First of all, single parents who do not receive child support are in a very difficult situation to raise their children financially. So, if it is judged that the welfare of children is jeopardized in this case, there is a system called temporary emergency support for child support from the state. So, up to one year, the government first pays 200,000 won per month to each child. And there's a system that recovers that part to non-custodial parents who haven't fulfilled their child support. From July next year, it was only paid for up to a year now. However, a child support pre-payment system that can support child support until their children reach adulthood will be introduced and implemented.

[Anchor]
So, you're talking about a system in which the state pays child support first and recovers it from unpaid parents. When is it going to go into effect?

[Shin Young Sook]
The law was revised in September and is set to take effect on July 1, 2025. Let me tell you a little more. You can apply for a single-parent family whose standard median income is less than 150% from the child support bond I mentioned earlier. That's why each child is 200,000 won per month, which can be supported until the maximum age. First, if the state judges the advance payment, we pay it. And you're going to go through the process of retrieving it from non-custodial parents. However, if non-custodial parents do not respond, there is a part where we have to take the procedure according to the example of compulsory national tax collection and collect it well. To do so, if you make an advance payment, you can inquire such information on your income property, including financial information, even if the debtor does not agree. So, as hidden or things like this can be found, if the child support pre-payment system is introduced next year, it will be of great help to raise children by receiving stable child support until they reach adulthood.

[Anchor]
I hope these government policies can lead to practical help. Let's change the topic and talk about the deepfake problem this time. Isn't deepfake damage continuing to target minors in elementary, middle, and high schools? The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is working on relief?

[Shin Young Sook]
As you said, a famous singer named Taylor Swift was also reported, but not long ago in September, the public was very shocked when the report of victims and perpetrators from the general public to students was reported. So let me tell you something I prepared. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is actually a victim support-oriented ministry. So, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is implementing various policies around the Digital Sexual Crime Victim Support Center. So, you can provide counseling to victims, deletion of illegal videos, and then medical care and legal support. But in fact, it is difficult to contact these parts if you have calls from various institutions. So there is Ministry of Gender Equality and Family No. 1366. This is the phone number for sexual violence victims. So if you call this way, you can get various supports. Next, we are planning to create a dedicated website called Digital Sex Offenses Stop. So that not only the victims but also the general public can report on these illegal videos. Next, the part of cooperating with related organizations is that we need AI digital detection technology. So, it is said that there is a technology that can detect illegal video and find it. So, we will cooperate with the Ministry of Science and Technology and make efforts to support victims by introducing such technologies.

[Anchor]
The number of reports has increased a lot compared to the past, right?

[Shin Young Sook]
You've improved a lot.

[Anchor]
How much have you improved?

[Shin Young Sook]
Each department reports differently, but the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family focuses on counseling support. However, such a situation has occurred since September, so we are providing counseling support for about 1,200 cases. The police received 960 cases, followed by about 10,000 cases of deletion by the Korea Communications Standards Commission. So various ministries are working together to respond to such situations.

[Anchor]
As you said, I think we need cooperation from various ministries, is it actually going well?

[Shin Young Sook]
I'll show you this again. In the past, as you saw, each ministry worked hard on their roles. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family supported the victims, the Korea Communications Commission worked hard on business regulations, and the National Police Agency played a role in crackdowns, investigations, and the Korea Communications Commission. However, as each ministry works, I think the consumer's or the public's perspective on the effectiveness of the measures may decrease a little. So for this, we announced a pan-government deepfake countermeasure on November 6th. So, together, we prepared countermeasures so that these related ministries and agencies can cooperate well and respond.

[Anchor]
I'll also talk about my birth problem. The government is coming up with a lot of measures in relation to this, so please introduce what policies the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is promoting.

[Shin Young Sook]
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family can be said to be the main ministry of the low birth rate policy. I can tell you about three directions. First, balance, work and family. Next, care, and then these three areas that support family functions well. Therefore, for work-family balance, the family-friendly certification system has been operated since 2008 to create a family-friendly culture for companies. Currently, about 5,911 companies are participating. As a society, we are trying to spread a culture of work-life balance like this. In addition, there are 159 Saeil centers nationwide. So, we are providing such support for women to engage in economic activities without their careers being cut off. Then the second area is the care sector. So, in the case of dual-income couples, there may be a gap in child care. That's why it's a child care service project that dispatches caregivers to the home to prevent a family gap. That's why we're providing support for that, and we're providing support for child support for single-parent families as mentioned earlier, and then supporting them to prevent gaps in care through such support as advance payment. And the last area is that there are 244 family centers across the country to support family functions. Through the family center, we are discovering and supporting various families who need customized. In particular, isn't the number of multicultural families increasing a lot these days? So, we provide settlement support for immigrants and support for their children in career and academic design, focusing on family functions. So, next year's budget is probably about 1.2681 trillion won according to the entire low-birthrate field, so the National Assembly is responding very hard to collect the budget. So, I will work hard to become a ministry that can take measures for low birth rate that the people can feel.

[Anchor]
I see. This has been Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family Shin Young-sook. Thank you for talking today.

[Shin Young Sook]
Thank you.