Two sisters-in-law and a stepdaughter of a Vietnamese immigrant wife were fined for beating her after she allegedly failed to tend to her mother-in-law's needs.Get it, slapped a 300,000-won fine on her? In Korean here.
A district court in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, imposed a fine of 700,000 won each on the women, both in their forties. It also slapped a 300,000-won fine on the 26-year-old stepdaughter on the same charges.
The sisters-in-law said they had been unsatisfied with the woman's care of their mother.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Vietnamese wife beaten by family for neglecting mother-in-law.
From the Korea Times:
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6 comments:
Slavery by marriage. Another romantic day in the Hanster.
Stepmother? Don't you mean "mother-in-law"?
Jeffery Hodges
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ooops, good catch. Changed it, thanks.
From the link:
This just shows how savage and undeveloped South Korean society really is.
I suppose in a collectivist society, all 50 million members should be represented and judged by the actions of three people (four, including the "drunkin' homosexual husband").
That aside, there is a problem whenever any married woman feels trapped in an abusive marriage (including abuse by in-laws), and this is certainly the case for many so-called "international marriages," as well as Korean-Korean marriages.
It is always a positive sign — a very positive sign — when the courts are taking such abuse seriously, not just taking the testimony of a foreign national over the testimony of three Korean nationals, but also punishing those three (though probably not enough).
Of course, such situations are not new at all, but the courts sometimes seem like they're not always consistent in applying the law impartially.
You really shouldn't spend any time reading the comments at the bottom of the KT section. I've complained about it many times, sent a few emails to the editor, but they still remain an obstacle to credibility to that paper's website.
Anyway, I wonder if this case went to the police, and subsequently to the English-language press, because she's a foreigner. Safe to say wives are beaten regularly, but how often do you read about it in the paper?
Brian wrote:
You really shouldn't spend any time reading the comments at the bottom of the KT section. I've complained about it many times, sent a few emails to the editor, but they still remain an obstacle to credibility to that paper's website.
You're absolutely right on both counts (that one shouldn't read it and it erodes their credibility). The truth is I rarely do, and I never read beyond what is on the first set of comments. Some of the people there are so full of vitriol I dare say I wonder how they function in society.
Anyway, I wonder if this case went to the police, and subsequently to the English-language press, because she's a foreigner. Safe to say wives are beaten regularly, but how often do you read about it in the paper?
Well, I think there may be two things at work here. First, there is the relative unusualness of this type of case: three Koreans forced to pay a successfully litigating foreign national.
But more importantly, it is part of a theme of social justice that has been growing momentum quite a bit in the past few years, that overseas brides are especially susceptible to abuse. While there are some in the press who abuse their position, there are some who try to do good with it, and this is definitely one of those areas.
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