While visiting the Yeosu Immigration Office last week I picked up a copy of Rainbow+, a new magazine written in Korean and Vietnamese and primarily intended for the large numbers of Vietnamese women who are imported to South Korea to marry Korean men. I haven't been able to find official statistics on the number of Vietnamese living in Korea now, though there are a couple of articles on the Korean mail-order bride trade here and here. Wikipedia cites a source that says during the Vietnam War, some [edit: of the] 300,000 Koreans who served there brought back Vietnamese brides.
International marriages often aren't happy ones in Korea, for a number of reasons, and 3,665 international couples got divorced here in 2007. You'll recall that earlier this year a man in Daejeon was given a "relatively heavy punishment" of 12 years in prison for beating his 19-year-old Vietnamese bride to death. And in February a 22-year-old Vietnamese woman fell to her death from an apartment building, and though her death was ruled a suicide---and her 46-year-old Korean husband had her body cremated before any forensic investigation could be done---the woman's diary and other circumstantial evidence suggests homicide. There was a Joongang Ilbo opinion piece in May titled "End the marriage industry" which implores South Korea to end the trade of immigrant women, citing among other things the staggering discrimination foreigners face here. The piece concludes:
A country is globally rejected or respected for its policies and behavior towards women. Korea must legislate against the business of buying and selling foreign wives.
The government should immediately crack down on this shameful practice.
At the same time, the government must grant quick citizenship to the foreign wives already living here so that they can have full equal rights under the law.
It is time for Korea to protect its minority citizens.
We recall seeing this sign floating around the internet, which hung in Jeollabuk-do and advertised that Vietnamese women won't run away:
Rainbow+ magazine doesn't seem to be available online, but navering the organization on the cover points to the "Transnational Marriage & Family-Support Center" homepage. Looks like there's all kinds of interesting information in the magazine and on the website, but I can't read most of it.
7 comments:
After reading this post, and the one you wrote about Korean sex tourists in Mongolia, I'm curious if you heard about the Cambodian government's decision to ban all overseas marriages. The Ranting Englishman wrote about it a few months back, and it seems Korean match-making services are (mostly) to blame.
Brian,
I'm doing research on currently Korean images of Vietnam/Vietnamese brides in pop culture/dramas and more broadly (presenting on the topic in Hanoi later this year no less). Would it be possible to get a xerox/scan of some choice pages of Rainbow from you?
Hmm, sounds like an interesting topic. Aside from seeing posters for brides I haven't seen many representations of Vietnamese in Korean pop culture.
I'm away from a scanner for about a week, but I'll see what I can do. There aren't many "choice" pages, though, so don't get your hopes up.
Brian,
Not sure this got through, so just in case:
>>Thanks. Much appreciated. Even 2 or 3 interesting pages would be useful just to get a sense of how a gov't organization is pitching the issue. There have been a couple of SBS dramas ("The Bride From Hanoi" "The Golden Bride") and other productions that have dealt with the topic. Hai Yen (sp.?) from Misuda was also in a couple of TV shows where she played a VN bride. There are also representations of the Vietnamese in stuff set during the VN war (like the recent film Sunny).
Best, Stephen
Hi,
Sorry, but I don't have access to a scanner since they changed the computers at work. If you stop by an immigration office in Korea you can pick one up. Or, if you send me your address I can mail it to you. deutsch.brian at gmail
Rainbow+ Magazine is available in Korean and English too. Picked myself up a copy at Daejeon immigration. It gives the impression a lot is being done for marriage immigrants, though I guess that's its job.
Thanks. As it happens, I'll be back in Korea for the first time in over a year as of this Thursday, so I'll be sure to pick a copy up.
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