“My wife had a child as a teenager” ... Newlywed husband considers having his marriage annulled [What Do You Think?]

[Financial News]  A man is considering having his marriage annulled after learning, following their wedding, that his wife had given up for adoption a child she gave birth to after being sexually assaulted as a teenager. He understands what his wife went through, but is troubled that she did not tell him about the birth before they married.
On the 30th, YTN (Yonhap Television News) radio’s “Attorney Jo In-seop’s Counseling Center” reported that Mr. A, who was newly married, recently sought legal advice after learning that his wife had given birth in the past.
The two first met through a volunteer group. Mr. A fell for his wife at first sight and tried to win her over, but it took more than a year for them to become a couple. He eventually persuaded her, despite her having no plans to marry, and they got married.
After they married, however, Mr. A heard something unexpected from his wife: she had been sexually assaulted as an adolescent and had given birth to a child. At the time, she was not in a position to raise a child, so she gave the child up for adoption. She said she did not know how the child was doing now.
He felt deeply for his wife, who had experienced sexual violence as a child. Mr. A tried to understand why she had found it difficult to talk about her past, but he also felt taken aback and hurt to learn about it so late.
Mr. A still loved his wife and knew that neither the sexual assault nor the birth was her fault. Still, he was unsure whether he would have chosen to marry her without hesitation, as he had, if he had known the same facts before the wedding.
Mr. A spoke about his complicated feelings, saying, “I feel sorry to my wife just for having these feelings. But honestly, I’m confused about how to treat her.” He then said, “I wonder whether a marriage can be annulled if a spouse concealed a previous childbirth,” asking about the legal possibility.
Attorney Park I-chan, who reviewed the case, said that deciding whether the marriage could be annulled required examining whether failing to disclose the birth legally constituted fraud. He said, “The key is whether a spouse’s failure to disclose a birth can be considered fraud under the law.”
The explanation was that a marriage cannot be annulled simply because a spouse withheld some information. Attorney Park said, “For an annulment to be granted, it is not enough that some fact was merely concealed,” adding, “The act must constitute deception significant enough to affect the other party’s decision to marry.”
He stressed that this case also required considering the circumstances that led the wife to give birth and her subsequent relationship with the child. Attorney Park said, “We must also look at the circumstances surrounding the birth and what happened afterward,” explaining, “The wife gave birth to a child after being sexually assaulted as an adolescent, then placed the child for adoption and did not maintain contact with or raise the child. These circumstances are important to understanding why it was difficult for her to talk about the birth.”
Attorney Park explained that, taken together, these circumstances made it unlikely that an annulment would be granted. He said, “Considering all the circumstances, it is difficult to view the wife’s failure to disclose her past childbirth as deception,” adding, “In conclusion, an annulment is unlikely to be granted.” He added, however, that divorce would still be possible independently of an annulment.


[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter