American citizen John Sichi was recently reunited with his two children after a years-long journey to retrieve them, following their abduction by his Korean spouse. Sichi s family, originally based in California, experienced upheaval when his spouse vanished with their children in late 2019 after relocating to Korea.
Korea remains non-compliant with international parental child abduction conventions regarding cases involving U.S. children, despite diplomatic engagements between Seoul and Washington, according to a U.S. State Department report published, Monday (local time).
For Sichi, who is “walking but going nowhere,” the endless walks symbolize his ongoing struggle with South Korea's legal system in reuniting him with his children
On a cold Nov. 30 afternoon, when temperatures nosedived to minus seven degrees Celsius in Seoul, bringing with it the nation s first cold wave alert of the season, John Sichi was walking on a treadmill in front of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul. Undeterred by the biting winds, the U.S. citizen walked for nearly four hours. Near the treadmill stood a placard reading, “Please let me see my children,” and a life-size cardboard cutout of his two kids - a 5-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl.
John Sichi’s ongoing treadmill protest inSeoul is part of desperate effort to find his missing children who have been allegedly abducted by his South Korean wife.