Your child's father is Korean and he stopped supporting you. Here is the legal way forward.

Collect and protect your evidence

Save everything privately, in two places (phone and cloud or USB):

• His full name (in Korean letters if you have it), date of birth, any ID or passport details you were legitimately given
• Phone numbers, KakaoTalk, LINE, Facebook or Instagram accounts and the dates they stopped working
• Messages, photos together, travel dates, money transfers he sent
• Pregnancy and hospital records, especially if he came with you
• Your child's birth certificate

Even if you do not know his address, these details help a court and lawyers find him through official channels.

Try voluntary acknowledgment first

If you can still reach him, he can recognize the child voluntarily. This is called voluntary acknowledgment (임의인지). He files it at a Korean local office or a Korean embassy. A private DNA test by agreement can come first. This is the fastest and cheapest route.

If he refuses: a paternity case in a Korean Family Court

Under Article 863 of Korea's Civil Act, a child, or the child's legal representative (usually the mother), can sue the father for acknowledgment (인지청구의 소). You can do this while living abroad.

• The case is filed at the family court where the father has his domicile in Korea.
• Family cases of this type usually go to mediation first.
• If he denies being the father, the court can order a DNA test. If he refuses without good reason, he can be fined up to 10 million won, and if he still refuses, detained for up to 30 days until he complies.
• Samples from you and your child can, in some cases, be collected abroad and sent to a Korean lab named by the court.
• The child's right to be acknowledged cannot be waived. If the father has died, a case can still be filed against the public prosecutor, but only within 2 years of learning of his death.

Claim child support

You can ask for future monthly support until the child is an adult, and support for past years, often in the same case. Amounts depend on his income and your child's needs. Some fathers settle and pay a lump sum once a case starts.

Make the order work

A Korean judgment is easiest to enforce against money or property in Korea (wages, bank accounts, real estate). If he keeps ignoring court orders, Korea's Child Support Enforcement Agency (양육비이행관리원) can pursue sanctions, including asking the Justice Ministry to ban him from leaving Korea. Ask the agency whether it can take your case if you live abroad.

The Philippines joined the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention in 2022, but Korea and Vietnam have not, so this treaty cannot be used to enforce support against a father in Korea. Check the current status on the HCCH status table.

Your child's Korean nationality

Under Article 3 of Korea's Nationality Act, a child acknowledged by a Korean father can acquire Korean nationality by reporting to the Minister of Justice, if the child is still a minor under Korean law and the father was Korean when the child was born.