Mother says local police failed to help despite Hague Convention order to return daughter to custodian and repeated pleas for intervention amid crisis
A man embroiled in a custody battle with his wife in Australia was found dead alongside his 4-year-old daughter inside a car on Jeju Island after allegedly bringing the child to South Korea without the mother's knowledge, news reports said Wednesday.
The father, in his 40s, is believed to have died by suicide after burning charcoal briquettes inside a parked car with his daughter in Pyoseon-myeon, Seogwipo. Their bodies were discovered at around 6:08 p.m. Monday, according to the Jeju Fire and Safety Headquarters.
The father, a permanent resident of Australia, reportedly brought his daughter to Seoul in October 2025 amid an ongoing custody battle with his wife in Australia.
The mother responded in March by filing a petition for the child's return with the Seoul Family Court under the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.
The international treaty aims to ensure the prompt return of children wrongfully taken to or kept in another country. If a parent refuses to comply with a return order, court enforcement officers can carry out its enforcement, with police assistance when necessary.
The mother won the case, but by the time she arrived in Seoul, the father had already taken their daughter to Jeju Island.
She then sought assistance from Seogwipo police in April to enforce the court order for her daughter's return, citing concerns about the father's mental health. He was said to have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder following an accident and had been prescribed several medications for depression.
The mother alleges that police failed to adequately respond to her request, neither establishing the father's whereabouts nor taking further steps beyond a video call to check on her daughter's safety.
She also claimed that police received a report from a local resident who suspected the father of child abuse. Police conducted two on-site investigations, but did not inform her until much later.
Her desperate appeals for help continued in the days leading up to the tragedy.
On Oct. 2, the father contacted the daughter's daycare center in Seogwipo, saying the girl would no longer attend because they were moving to the US.
The mother, who was in Australia at the time, immediately sought emergency assistance through the South Korean Embassy. The following day, an Australian court ordered the cancellation of the daughter's passport, preventing the child from leaving South Korea.
She also asked the Jeju Provincial Police Agency to locate her daughter and ensure her safety, but said police failed to respond.
"What more could I have done? I contacted the relevant authorities every day from another country and pleaded with the police for help, but this still happened," the mother told a local news outlet.
A police official said the agency would comment on the matter after reviewing the details of the case.
cjh@heraldcorp.com