Do I get visitation rights after a Korean divorce?

What Korean law says

Article 837-2(1): a parent who does not directly raise the child, and the child, have a mutual right of contact.

Article 837-2(2): where that parent has died or cannot exercise contact because of illness, residence abroad or another unavoidable circumstance, that parent’s lineal ascendant may apply to the family court for contact with the child. The court must take into account the child’s wishes, the relationship between the applicant and the child, the motive for the application and other circumstances.

Article 837-2(3): the family court may, on the application of a party or on its own authority, restrict, exclude or vary contact where necessary for the child’s welfare.

Article 837(2) requires an agreement on divorce to cover whether and how contact will be exercised, alongside who raises the child and how the cost is borne.

Civil Act, Articles 837 and 837-2. Act No. 21454, in force from 17 March 2026.

What usually happens in practice

Because Article 837(2) makes contact a required term of the agreement, vague wording is the commonest source of later conflict. Specify frequency, duration, handover arrangements, holidays and how contact happens if one parent is abroad. An arrangement that reads well in principle and cannot be performed in practice produces applications to vary within the year.

Paragraph 3 works both ways. It is the route to restrict contact where there is a genuine welfare concern, and it is the answer to a parent who assumes contact can be withheld informally because payments are late or a new partner has appeared. Contact and child support are separate obligations.

For foreign parents the international dimension needs to be written in from the start: whether the child can travel, who holds the passport, and what happens if one parent relocates. Adding it later is much harder than agreeing it now.

What you should do next

• Write contact into the agreement in specific, performable terms.
• Address travel and passports explicitly if either parent may live abroad.
• Do not withhold contact over unpaid support, or support over withheld contact.
• If contact is being frustrated, apply under paragraph 3 rather than self-helping.

Written and reviewed by Soobin You, Attorney at YUSU Lawfirm. Former prosecutor. Last legal review: 12 September 2026.