North Korean defectors can't get divorced

Posted By Mark I. Levenstein Tuesday, January 9, 2007 - 12:35 PM Share

The New York Times tells the astonishing tale of Kim Sung Hee, a North Korean refugee who gets married, has a baby, defects to China without her child, meets another man, can't marry him because she's an illegal alien, lives in constant fear of deportation, has another baby, flees to Vietnam with her second child, wins asylum in South Korea, lands a job and decides she wants to marry the Chinese man, but can't get a divorce from her North Korean husband in South Korean courts.

South Korean divorce law is ill-equipped to cope with situations like that of Kim Sung Hee. The reason? "A thicket of legal riddles," says the Times:

First, should South Korea even recognize a marriage sealed in North Korea, given that the South's Constitution calls the North part of its territory, and that such marriages are typically never registered in the South? With spouses on opposing sides of the border, which court should have jurisdiction? How can a spouse in North Korea defend his or her interests in a South Korean court?

EXPLORE:EAST ASIA, CULTURE, LAW, NORTH KOREA

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