SEONGNAM, SOUTH KOREA (THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Police said they are looking into a case in which a married couple in their 20s left their young children at a restaurant after a fight, only to take them back after police got involved.

The Bundang Police Department in Gyeonggi province said on Tuesday (Aug 30) that the couple got into a fight at a restaurant in Seongnam at around 8pm on Aug 27.

The husband left the scene after paying the bill. Soon after, the wife also left, leaving behind their two children, a boy, five, and a girl aged two.

About half an hour later, the restaurant owner called the police.

Police officers said they contacted the two after bringing the children to the police station but that both refused to come and pick them up.

The husband reportedly said that he left the children with the wife, while the wife claimed that the police misidentified her as the children's mother.

The husband eventually came to the station at around 11pm, only after the police warned that the parents could be punished on charges of abandoning the children.

The police said they are looking further into the case on suspicions of the possible additional charges of abandonment and negligence.