We're both American and my husband is stationed in Korea — can a Korean court divorce us, or do we have to do it back in the States?

A Korean court can divorce two Americans living here under SOFA. Your status as a dependent affects your immigration treatment, not the family court's jurisdiction, which turns on where you actually live. The more important question is the one you asked second: a Korean divorce can be valid and still not be the right tool for a military couple, because certain things — above all, division of military retirement — are governed by US federal rules that a foreign court order may not satisfy. That is the fork to decide at the start, not the end.

Can you divorce in Korea, and under which law

Jurisdiction comes from Article 56 of the Act on Private International Law (국제사법, gukje sabeop): a Korean court may hear a matrimonial case where the spouses habitually reside in Korea. Habitual residence is a factual test — where your life actually is — and four years on the peninsula meets it, notwithstanding that SOFA personnel are outside the ordinary immigration system.

Applicable law is set by Article 66, which applies the spouses' common national law first. Both American, so US law — and because the US has no single divorce law, Article 16 of the same Act directs the court to the law of the state with which you are most closely connected, typically the state of domicile. For a couple who has moved on orders and never settled, that is an argument, not a given, and it is one reason Korean courts handling American couples generally steer toward a route where the parties' own agreement, not a foreign statute, does the work.

Which route: agreement, mediation, litigation

Divorce by agreement (협의이혼, hyeobui ihon) at the family court counter is technically open to foreign couples, but where the applicable law is a foreign one, some courts decline to confirm and direct the parties to mediation instead. Mediation (조정, jojeong) produces a mediation record (조정조서, jojeong joseo) with the force of a judgment: one of you files, the other consents, the agreed terms are recorded in one or two short sessions. For two Americans who agree, this is the usual path, and it yields a court document that travels better than a counter confirmation.

Children, property and support

Your daughter is not a child of the marriage, so custody is not before the court. Property division (재산분할, jaesan bunhal) and consolation money (위자료, wijaryo) can be agreed and recorded.

Here is the military-specific problem. Division of a servicemember's retired pay between former spouses is governed by a US federal statute with its own rules about which courts' orders the pay center will honor, and about the length of marriage overlapping service. A Korean mediation record may not qualify. If retirement division, survivor benefits, or continued benefit eligibility matter to you, that part may require a US state court order, and the sequence — Korean divorce first, then a US property order, or everything in a US court — should be decided with US counsel before filing anything here. Some states allow a servicemember to file in the state of legal residence without physically living there, which can make a US filing simpler than it sounds from Seoul.

Both of you in Korea: service and timing

Service is domestic and immediate. The constraint is his reassignment date: mediation must conclude, and the record be issued, before he departs. Start early.

What this means for your stay in Korea

Your presence in Korea as a dependent is a matter of SOFA status and command sponsorship, both on the US side; a divorce ends the basis for dependent status, with consequences for housing and remaining in Korea that the command, not a Korean court or immigration, administers. Get that timeline from the installation's legal office before the mediation date is set.

Practical insight

Military couples make one of two mistakes. They divorce in Korea for speed and discover later that the retirement division needs a US order they no longer have leverage to obtain. Or they assume a Korean divorce "won't count" and postpone everything to a reassignment that keeps moving. The right answer is often a Korean divorce with a written agreement drafted from the start to be presented to a US court for the military-specific pieces. Obtain the mediation record with apostille and certified translation before either of you leaves; a US court clerk will ask for exactly that.

We work alongside US counsel on these cases. Send us the basics — dates of marriage, his service dates, your state of legal residence — and we can tell you which pieces belong where. Text consultation or +82-2-522-3959.

— MEGA X Law Firm Korea, International Family Law Team