Vietnamese - Korean marriage and the issues raised

Seminar on Vietnam - Korea marriage jointly organized by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Chungcheongnam Women's Policy Development Institute (VPCP), Korea on April 22, 2009.

The workshop was attended by experts from VNU, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam, Chungwoon University, and the Korean Women's Policy Development Institute. The workshop listened to and discussed two main presentations: "Vietnam - Korea marriage migration: issues raised" by Associate Professor, Dr. Le Thi Quy - Director of the Center for Gender and Development Studies and "Issues and solutions of the central and local governments of Korea regarding foreign brides" by author Kim Young Ju - Government Office.

Marriages involving foreigners in Vietnam have existed for a long time in history. However, it was not until the early 1990s that this phenomenon became truly popular and attracted public attention. Every year, about 10,000 Vietnamese women marry foreigners, mainly Taiwanese and Koreans. According to the Korean Statistics Office, in the past 5 years, the rate of marriages with foreigners in Korea has increased three times, in which the rate of Korean men marrying Vietnamese women has increased 43 times, from 134 in 2001 to 5,822 in 2005.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/04/23/img_7722.jpg" border="0" alt="Ms. Kim Young Ju - Head of Women's Policy Department, Vietnam Women's Policy Development Chungcheongnam (Korea)" title="Ms. Kim Young Ju - Head of Women's Policy Department, Vietnam Women's Policy Development Chungcheongnam (Korea)" width="160" height="240" align="left" ]

However, the downside of these seemingly legal Korean-Vietnamese marriages is the phenomenon of tens of thousands of children and women being trafficked across the border in the form of marriage brokers, the inequality in marriage when Korean men, thanks to support policies, go to poor countries to find wives while Vietnamese women do not have the right to choose their husbands... Behind these unequal marriages are serious conflicts in the family life of Vietnamese brides, which are differences in culture, law and customs. The bride's motive of wanting to recover her "capital" and the Korean groom's fear that his wife will run away after paying a wedding fee has caused the husband's family to control the wife's finances as well as her opportunities to communicate outside. In addition, the Korean multicultural family support law also shows unfairness when it requires women to learn the language, customs, and culture of their husbands, but on the contrary, the husbands do not need to learn those things from the wives. Marriages that are not based on true love, along with the lack of clear information about both sides, and are controlled by intermediaries for profit, have caused many marriages to become tragedies with cases of domestic violence, or less seriously, the inability to integrate into common life. In Korea, the number of divorces among international couples in 2003 was 2,784, and by 2007, it had increased to 8,348. On the other hand, second-generation children in these multicultural families also need to be given due attention so that they can not only integrate into the surrounding environment but also know and understand their second homeland. However, this issue has not received due attention.

In order for “international marriage not to create a concern about social instability but to become a bridge of friendship and cultural exchange between the two nations”, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Thi Quy said that it is necessary to establish an international research and action network on migration and marriage issues between Vietnam and Korea to improve the laws of the two countries, protect the safety of migrant women, respect the cultures of the two countries and prevent human trafficking.

Delegate Kim Young Ju from the Government Office said that currently, the central and local governments of Korea have gradually realized that foreign brides and multicultural families are entities that contribute to the development of society. Since 2005, the government has begun to conduct the first investigations and research, and since 2006, a number of agencies have coordinated to propose support plans for foreign brides. The government has issued a law governing the international marriage brokerage profession and a basic law on the treatment of foreigners in Korea in 2007; set out basic directions in the policy on foreigners in the medium and long term; strengthened support policies on the rights of foreign women who marry Korean men on the basis of equality with natives; attach importance to multicultural education and training in localities, establish support centers for families marrying foreigners in districts, counties... However, the above support policies should not only be initial support to help them adapt to their new life, but must be planned from the perspective of considering foreign brides and multicultural families as "social strength", as members of society, only then can we thoroughly resolve the situation of ethnic inequality in families and localities with international marriages. And support for these subjects should be seen as a good investment for the future of society and the community.