From next month, police will crack down on banners for “international marriages” using discriminatory language (like “Vietnamese women never run away”) and advertising vehicles using similar language. Violators will face up to a year in prison or fines up to 10 million won. [NoCut News, Korean].
-
English Books on Korea... and More!
-
Visit My Brother's Film Review Site
35 Comments
Just like the crack downs on prostitution, traffic safety, illegal workers, or whatever the flavor of the month happens to be, it won’t work. (Not sure they are really supposed to work either.) There might be a bust or two that everybody can see on the 9:OO news on MBC and KBS, and soon it will likely be business as usual once again. I hope I’m wrong, but…
Perhaps, but it’s a welcome step and whoever is responsible for the policy should be commended.
Henceforth, the banners should provide the current ‘run away rate’ (RAR) and purchase price information, so that discriminating buyers can compare the RAR/price ratio to those of mail-order brides from other countries.
I thought it was the North Koreans who never ran away?
No, the North Koreans are those with confirmed identities, unlike most foreigners.
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/.....ublic-ire/
The Vietnamese people apparently makes up for their nebulous identities with numerous good qualities such as:
* Not running away
* Being frugal
* Possessing similar bloodline as Koreans, because they get Mongolian spots.
* Having pleasant body odor, unlike the Chinese and the Philipinos
http://news.naver.com/news/rea.....enu_id=105
Just imagine what must go through the minds of these women when they read the signs after having developed a certain level of fluency in Korean.
Just curious, where do they run away to?
Japan
The Philippine embassy in Seoul has a place where women can go if they’re running from their (Korean) husbands. When I heard it talked about in Korean it was called an 안전가옥, a “safehouse” or “hideaway,” but I guess it’s effectively a battered women’s home. At least according to the stereotype, when Philippine women married to Korean men here run away it’s usually not because they were just trying to get in the country and, once here, are abandoning their husbands.
It was talked about in a “documentary” about how much better Korea’s embassies should be taking care of Korean citizens. The point seemed to be that if the Philippines can look after its battered women, Korea should be able to do half as well. The man at the embassy responsible for consular affairs told the news crew about it and let them film some of the things he does from a distance, but refused to show them where the “safehouse” is.
“It was talked about in a “documentary” about how much better Korea’s embassies should be taking care of Korean citizens. The point seemed to be that if the Philippines can look after its battered women, Korea should be able to do half as well.”
How about battered Korean women IN Korea? Are there women’s shelters for them? Any North American city large enough to warrant a Korean consulate would likely have Korean-speaking staff in whichever agency handles family and domestic violence, so battered Korean wives in large metro areas would have support. Korean women in Podunkville would not. A long time ago, my farmwife aunt asked me to meet with a battered Korean wife of a former GI. The wife spoke little English, so it was difficult for concerned small town folks like my aunt to help the poor woman, who was staying in a local shelter. I wasn’t in town long enough to meet her, and I don’t know how she fared. Despite the language barrier, this woman was better off in the loving care of local church women than facing the callous apathy of consular personnel.
correction: Korean wives in large metro areas would have Korean language support.
Here in Japan there are many single males who want to marry Chinese girls. They know before their marriage they would never sleep with the wives. And they get paid about $7,000 for the marriage. Thanks to the marriage certificate, the Chinese girl can stay and work in Japan for the rest of her life. The guys repeat marriage and divorce to get paid until he finally gets caught.
oranckay,
Yes, given that a significant number of middle-aged farmers here are alcoholics, it’s probably safe to say that some of these women have good reasons to be leaving their husbands.
PS. Why would they talk about them ‘running away’? I thought they were wives, not slaves.
“Here in Japan there are many single males who want to marry Chinese girls.”
This stuff is also rampant in Korea where even homeless people and people in heavy debt lend their names to marry foreigners like the Vietnamese and Chinese for money. Not all are innocent, some are immigration scammers who once they’re in the country, leave their unsuspecting “husbands” and go work in the factories.
There are victims on both sides.
Yes it’s despicable what these recruiters are doing. But it’s the Korean media which reported this story, it was the Korean rights groups who raised this issue, and it was the Koreans who got offended. If this didn’t happen, the Vietnamese would have continued happily selling their women.
“Vietnamese would have continued happily selling their women”
Are you sure it’s Vietnamese who are doing the selling and that they are happy about it?
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/s.....10/627774/
http://www.thanhniennews.com/s.....wsid=21567
“Are you sure it’s Vietnamese who are doing the selling and that they are happy about it?”
Sure. guess what, the number of Vietnamese women fighting to line up to be numbered and branded, hasn’t decreased one bit - even after all the broo ha ha. It takes two to tango. And frankly, these women aren’t being held with guns to their heads to go to Korea to marry toothless 50 year old peasant men old enough to be their grandfathers.
The matchmaking methods are bad and they must be condemned, but I don’t think the results are bad. The women are getting to feed their family in Vietnam, while rural Korean men get wives and help with creating an unintended multicultural society.
You didn’t read the articles I linked, have you? Come on. Fess up to it.
I wonder if cm would have had the same opinion when it was poor Korean women married off to GIs, or unwanted Korean babies being sent to Western countries.
I don’t think Koreans in general see the parallels between their behavior in Southeast Asia and Oceania today and what it was like when they were on the receiving end.
Yes I did read the article. So? So one guy smuggled in guns for crooked dealings, why’s that so relavant to what we’re talking about?
If a white guy smuggled into Korea guns, narcotics, and had a business brokering Korean women to be married off overseas, Koreans would be rioting. That’s why it’s relevant … so maybe someone will see the hypocrisy of Koreans going nuts over things like English teachers holding hands with Korean women in Hongdae when Koreans like the guy who got caught in Vietnam get a “So?” from Koreans, assuming they ever hear about it in the first place.
dogbertt, please show me even one post where I actually went “nuts over things like English teachers holding hands with Korean women in Hongdae”? Please, dig up just even one post. I dare you. Otherwise, STFU.
Dogbertt, in this thread, you are equating Korean human trafficking dealers, xenophobic ultracons, and Korean population in general. Now isn’t that too much of a stretch?
Using the same process of argument, I can claim that Americans are racist (add some articles about KKK or skinhead rally + personal anecdote about how someone kept calling me ching-chong for a whole week), guns-a-blazing psycho killers (add some articles about serial murder and/or gun violence) who only eats at McDonald (add some articles on statistics of hamburger consumption) and drive SUVs (statistics on SUV ownership). Actually, I’m guessing a person can make such arguments for any and every country in this world. But that would be quite a stretch too, no?
Nothing classier or more humane than waving money in the faces of the poor and desperate to entice them into sham “marriages,” and then deflecting any responsibility for the inevitable disasters that follow with “It takes two to tango.”
By the same token I wouldn’t be holding a gun to a Cambodian farmer’s head when I offer him a goat and a Snickers bar for his 18-year old daughter, but that doesn’t preclude me from being a heartless, degenerate asshole when he accepts it. Nor would it preclude the culture that promotes and accepts that trade as being “beneficial for both sides” from being criticized in the same manner.
CM, the Vietnamese women who come here to marry Korean men often get lied to about their prospective husbands, who aren’t all that much better off financially than they are: “Although they came to Korea to overcome poverty, 52.9 percent of Korean men who they married belong to the lowest income bracket.”
Vietnamese women can always marry Vietnamese men — the Korean guys obviously don’t have similar options, so the benefit seems mainly to go to the latter.
The quote’s from here:
http://www.koreafocus.or.kr/so.....category=D
‘the Vietnamese women who come here to marry Korean men often get lied to about their prospective husbands, who aren’t all that much better off financially than they are: “Although they came to Korea to overcome poverty, 52.9 percent of Korean men who they married belong to the lowest income bracket.”
how do you know they’re often lied to? you mean these are just poor innocent girls getting suckered? yeah, right. lowest income bracket? what does that mean? your figure is worthless since you don’t give a vietnamese comparison. how does the lowest income bracket of korea compare to the income bracket most of the women come from?
‘Vietnamese women can always marry Vietnamese men — the Korean guys obviously don’t have similar options, so the benefit seems mainly to go to the latter.’
this is an absolutely ridiculous statement. then, what the hell are they marrying korean men for? man!
Vietnamese women can always marry Vietnamese men — the Korean guys obviously don’t have similar options, so the benefit seems mainly to go to the latter.
How do I know they’re lied to?
Numerous statements about that in the Korean press.
You mean these are just poor innocent girls getting suckered?
Sometimes, yes, as reported in the Korean media.
lowest income bracket? what does that mean?
Re-read what I wrote, it means that they’re leaving the relative poverty of one country for the relative poverty of another.
what the hell are they marrying korean men for?
I’m wondering the same thing
Seriously though pawikirogi, I wish these men and women well, and the problems they encounter stem partly from a failing of the S.K. government to have realistic policies to deal with the emptying out of rural areas.
“A government survey showed one out of every five migrant women found their Korean husbands different from the description they received from the agencies.”
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/070511/1/48gtk.html
This kind of thing has been all over the news in Korea for a couple of years now.
“Some Korean husbands, unable to get through to their foreign wives because of language barriers, get angry and beat them. They also tend to think they have purchased their wives,” said Kwon Mi-Ju of the Women Migrants Human Rights Centre.”
The key word here is “some”. And one out of every five migrant women found their Korean husbands different from the description they received from the agencies. That’s one out of five - which is 20%, that leaves the majority - 80% who got exactly what they were told.
“Nothing classier or more humane than waving money in the faces of the poor and desperate to entice them into sham “marriages,” and then deflecting any responsibility for the inevitable disasters that follow with “It takes two to tango.” ”
iheartblueballs, any opinions here are of mine, not “Korea’s”. Korea didn’t deflect any responsiblity and it wasn’t Korea who said it takes two to tango. It was CM who said it takes two to tango. Can you see the difference here?
Maybe if you stopped being angry against anything that you perceive to be Korean for a minute, you’ll agree with me.
And Michael, how do you feel about numerous web sites in the United States advertising mail order brides from Eastern Europe and Asia? Are all of them ethical? Are there any problems when strangers meet to marry for money?
“This kind of thing has been all over the news in Korea for a couple of years now.”
Does the Korean media hype up and exaggerate when it only involves anti american agenda and persecution of English teachers? I just wonder why all of a sudden you take every word from the Korean media as gospel?
“Yes I did read the article. So? So one guy smuggled in guns for crooked dealings, why’s that so relavant to what we’re talking about?”
Gee, I don’t know…
“He confessed to acting as a marriage go-between and taking seven Vietnamese women to South Korea. His share of the US$4,000 payment per bride was US$600.”
He “confessed”.
Number of times “Korea” is mentioned in post #23: 0.
Number of times “Korea” is mentioned in post #29’s paragraph directed at #23: 4.
A little defensive to the point of implied guilt, it seems. You brought Korea up, not me.
For the record, I’m of the opinion that anyone, from any country (including the mail-order bride racket that permeates most Western countries), that buys a poverty-stricken human being with the intent of treating that person as a cook/maid/cum-dumpster is a heartless, degenerate asshole. And I don’t give a fuck if she nods her head or signs an X on a contract, or how much money she’s able to send back to her shit-farm village…that doesn’t make the guy any less of a heartless, degenerate asshole.
If it so happens that certain countries have a higher ratio of these assholes than others, and it also so happens that some countries have broad, thriving industries built around serving these assholes, and local governments that give both direct and indirect support to these industries and assholes in a bid to boost their own sagging populations as well as providing free household help and sexual relief for their own bald, toothless farmers…well then it would be quite simple to make some deductions about those involved in that large industry, the governments in bed with them, the general population that supports such industry and government policies at the expense of the poor imported pseudo-slaves, and those that defend those transactions as being equal, two-way contracts which satisfy both parties by claiming equal responsibility lies on both ends of that pathetic inequity.
But I’ll refrain from mentioning any specific countries by name, or sharing my deductions, so as to avoid being labeled “angry.”
‘But I’ll refrain from mentioning any specific countries by name, or sharing my deductions, so as to avoid being labeled “angry.”’ blueballs
you’re going to have to do more than that, my friend. ‘anger’ is your first name. lol.
I’ll give a clue to your first name pawi, that even you have a chance of deciphering: It rhymes with “schmouchebag.”
Some points.
The Vietnamese government does not oppose such marriages, though they do try to discourage them from time to time with articles such as those linked to Thanh Nien, which is an official paper. Indeed, the country’s national poem “Truyen Kieu” can be read as a warning of the pitfalls of such marriages. (In the poem, the marriage contract is a scam, as the “groom” is really procuring her to work in his wife’s brothel.)
The average Vietnamese male views marriage to non-Vietnamese, especially westerners, as an anathema, but marriages to Chinese and other East Asians are acceptable, and can enhance social status. My wife has three nieces who married Taiwanese. One married a man twice her age, and two married farmers their own age. All three marriages have lasted. While in Taiwan visiting them, we met many other Vietnamese brides, to include a few who were divorced, and one who was severely depressed. Many had opened small hairdressing, nail, or soup shops. All were living legally in Taiwan, had Taiwanese children, and the majority said they were far better off than if they had stayed in Vietnam. It may be worth noting that Taiwan’s climate is only cold in the winter, and many fruits and vegetables common to Vietnam can be easily found in Taiwan.
Vietnam is a rapidly developing country, so Vietnamese mail-order brides will someday be a thing of the past. But that is several decades away. For all its progress, Vietnam’s economy remains rooted in agriculture, and manual labor in the rice paddies is rough. Dirt floors are the norm for the majority of Vietnam’s farm families, though some districts fare better than others. Old attitudes keep Vietnamese families large, so the pressure on government services is ever expanding. Farm mothers want better lives for their daughters, but reality often forces them to end children’s schooling in favor of putting another pair of hands to work. When you’re a 40 year old mother of twelve and look 60, marrying your 20 year old daughter off to a 45 year old Taiwanese seems a better option than the rice paddies. She’ll have a better life, and the family may just have a bit more money. Despite the horror tales, mothers and prospective brides will hope for the best. In some cases, because there is little alternative. Brides in rural and small town Vietnam are virgins, or they will be publicly repudiated. Widows are likewise not desirable. And for girls still young enough to dream, those Korean soap operas portray a world far more exciting than another day bending over in the muck, sticking rice seedlings in by hand. Beauty is a coin, and it is spent quickly.
I have met a few Vietnamese who have married Koreans, and they seemed to have adjusted well, but the lack of a family link impeded any real questions about their marriages and families. The Archdiocese of Seoul does have two Vietnamese priests and a nun on their rolls to serve the Vietnamese foreign worker community, and they see their share of abused and unhappy brides of Korean men. I do not know if they have ever attempted a statistical analysis of such marriages. My suspicion is that the percentages in Korea would be similar to Taiwan. Every culture has its share of misogynist idiots, but I’ve seen nothing in my six years in Korea to suggest that this country has any more than Taiwan, Latin America, or the Southern US.
For blueballs. I’m not sure the level of mail order bride traffic in any western country would qualify as “permeating” such societies. What are we looking at? One percent? Less than one percent?