Custody battle moves to S. Korea

The mother and son are believed
to be in South Korea.

By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

HUBBARD — City resident Richard Melanson is searching for answers to two questions: How was his former live-in girlfriend able to smuggle his son aboard a plane and leave the country? And, when will he see the 4-year-old boy again?

City police and the FBI have issued arrest warrants for Kyong-Mi Lee, Melanson’s former live-in girlfriend and mother of his son, Edward. The two are now believed to be somewhere in South Korea.

According to Melanson, the story began in 2001 when he began a relationship with Lee. The couple did not marry but several years ago went to Korea and had a union ceremony that they were later told would not be recognized in the United States.

The couple continued to live together, and Edward was born in 2003.

Problems

Melanson said Lee moved out of the Hubbard home in 2005 after the relationship took a bad turn, and the couple worked out arrangements for the care of Edward.

“The arrangement was one week on, one week off, between us with me as the custodial parent. I wasn’t trying to keep him from her,” he said. “Things were settling, so I wanted to keep the one week on, one week off arrangement.”

Melanson said Lee called him earlier this month and asked if she could keep the child longer than her allotted week, so the two could take a trip to Cedar Point. Melanson agreed.

A day after the supposed trip, Melanson said he called his son and asked how the rides were. But his son said he did not get on any rides, and the phone went dead. Subsequent calls went unanswered, Melanson said.

Involving police

Lee failed to return the boy home two days later as planned, and Melanson went to the police.

Hubbard Sgt. James Taafe said police were able to track Lee’s cellular phone use and determine that she was en route to New York while asking for additional visitation time to visit Cedar Point. City police involved the FBI in the case.

“We involved [the FBI] because we believed that she might try to flee the country,” Taafe said.

According to Taafe, it has since been determined that Lee flew from New York to Los Angeles, then boarded a flight to South Korea.

Taafe said the United States does have an extradition agreement with South Korea, but that does not mean that South Korea will recognize domestic laws of this country or the arrest warrant for Lee. He said the matter has been turned over to the State Department.

“It’s in the hands of the State Department now — what they will be able to do with that, I don’t know,” he said. “The problem is that she is a Korean citizen and not a citizen of the United States.”

Melanson is still trying to find out how Lee was able to fly his son out of the country. The boy does have a passport obtained for earlier travels overseas to visit his mother’s family, but that passport is in the possession of Melanson.

Melanson feels another passport may have been obtained for his son under the name Hanuel Lee, a name appearing as an alias for the boy on paperwork from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He is hoping any loopholes that allowed his son to travel abroad without a custodial parent will be closed.

“I just don’t understand how she got my son out of the country. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” he said.

jgoodwin@vindy.com