US father’s battle to find missing children in South Korea
- John Sichi’s ongoing treadmill protest in Seoul is part of desperate effort to find his missing children who have been allegedly abducted by his South Korean wife
- Sichi says South Korea’s flawed system has failed to support him after his wife absconded
On a cold afternoon on November 30, when temperatures nosedived to -7 degrees Celsius (19 degrees Fahrenheit) in Seoul, John Sichi walked on a treadmill in front of Dongdaemun Design Plaza. Undeterred by the biting winds, the US dad tread for nearly four hours.
Near the treadmill stood a placard reading: “Please let me see my children”, and a life-size cardboard cut-out of a five-year-old boy and three-year-old girl.
Curious passers-by approached him. A woman handed him 10,000 won (US$7.50), likely assuming it was a fundraising campaign.
Sichi has been staging the treadmill protest since October in various spots in Seoul, in a desperate effort to find his missing children who have been allegedly abducted by his South Korean wife.
Over the last couple of years, Sichi’s life has been tangled up in court proceedings over the international parental child abduction case by his spouse.
“I’m trying and trying, but I’m not able to reach [my children],” said Sichi. “Now I’m asking for help from anyone.”
