While the rest of the country is experiencing one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, a different story can be observed in Korea’s rural areas where an influx of immigrants from North and Southeast Asia is helping to keep rates at healthier levels.
In fact, almost half of the newborn babies at Yeonggwang county hospital in South Jeolla are from international marriages.
Around 40 percent of the 10 to 15 babies born every month at this hospital each month come from Vietnamese, Mongolian, Philippine or Chinese mothers.
Yeonggwang county ranked among the top 13 administrative divisions in Korea last year in terms of fertility rate, the article says.
30 comments:
When the article calls them immigrants and you call them "imported" (i.e., brought from abroad for sale), at what point do you become the one describing the women who chose to come to Korea in an undignified manner?
I'm not a big fan of arranged marriage, but it has been around for centuries and it is still the norm to varying degrees throughout East Asia.
As long as abuse or threats are not what is keeping the marriage from disintegrating, I don't have any more of a problem with this than I would with domestic arranged marriages in South Korea or the other countries whose brides come to South Korea.
Or are you assuming abuse or threats in overseas in these marriages by default?
Ya I'm all for pumping Korean drama's and propiganda into the rural Philippines and brain washing very poor and very uneducated girls into thinking they will have the good life when they come to Korean and then marrying them off to men that are 40 years older then them and often mentally disabled just so that their families back home can get a few bucks. Nothing wrong with that picture at all :P
btw, when we were in Cambodia this year we were told (and read) that Cambodia was currently banning marriages between Cambodian women and Korean men.
fattycat, I'm all for governments (such as Cambodia's) putting controls on these things if there is a real need to protect those involved (particularly the women).
And since you brought it up, do you have any stats on actual age differences or the percentage that are mentally disabled?
A lot of these men are considered unmarriageable in Korea for reasons relating to where they live and their position in the family, so depicting them a group largely made up of grandpas with mental illness is like suggesting suggesting that English teachers in Korea are people who got tired of working at Walmart or some such.
I'm not saying there are problems (I think there are!) but I'd rather deal with the reality than the memes that have popped up for some other purpose.
I would like to see some data (if it's available) on mean age differences and other such factors. Narratives from the brides' and grooms' different points of view are also interesting.
(There are such books that touch on Korea as part of an overall East Asia picture of women from the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia going abroad. When I get it out of storage, I'll supply the link to one whose readings we did in a Sociology of the Family course I took here recently.)
I would suspect due to the stigma against mental illness in Korea that Korea does not have accurate numbers on the mentally ill in this country, let alone the mentally ill married to migrant brides.
I did have statistics age differances at some point...Have to look it up later. I am though in fairly regular contact with many migrant women and their families. Though some are happy, very many are not. Many though will never complain and see it as "just how things are" and they "get used to it" all for the better good of the family back home.
fattycat, I think you're right that it would be difficult to find accurate statistics on mental illness among grooms in "international marriage." Any stat, unless it took wide liberties in extrapolating mental illness, would probably be an under-reporting.
I would like to see whatever stats you have on age differences. Certainly the press narratives demonstrate one of two decades or more.
But then we'd have to ask if this is so different from both South Korea and the originating country of the women. For better or for worse, these are modern manifestations of centuries-old styles of marriage. Being against them is being against the nuptial glue that has held East Asian societies together for all that time. I don't say that to justify it, only to point out that that's the issue at hand.
Similarly, the feelings of those who are unhappy must be considered in the same context. Would they be happier (or less unhappy) if they were in arranged marriages (or marriages with similar type arrangements) in their own country? While the language barrier would not be there, would there be other cultural barriers, and perhaps less money sent back to their families that are primary motivators for these arrangements in the first place (and I say that without criticism)?
To me the most important thing is making sure that the women are supported socially, given a way out if they need it, treated in a non-abusive way by their husbands and in-laws, and other such things that would enhance their lives. NGOs and, in some cases, the local and national governments are taking up that challenge, and I see that as a good thing.
But the reasons for people going into these arrangements are too complex, as are the motivations of their Korean husbands, to derisively call them "imported." I think that label would stand out as one of their biggest social barriers.
kushibo,
There are exceptions to the stereotype (for example, my mid-30s friend who was in a car accident that has permanently rendered him with a limp so Korean women will have nothing to do with him, despite the fact that he owns his own business will marry a young woman from Vietnam this fall), but by and large the men marrying women from Vietnam and the Philippines are over 40 (the girls are usually under 20) and live in less than favorable conditions.
Additionally, many are subject to more domestic abuse than average in Korea. Not to mention the regular culture shock and racial problems that most foreigners experience to a greater or lesser extent during their time here.
If you are interested, I have a friend who is writing a book about this kind of social issue in Korea. She's an Australian artist who has lived here for five years and is married to a Korean man (she speaks pretty close to fluent Korean and works regularly as a translator); she is very interested in social trends in this country. Most of my information comes from her research. I'll let you know when it's published (probably next year).
Diana E., I would love to see your friend's book when it comes out. I'd love to point her to some academic sources, too, if she needs it.
I'm all for the harsh spotlight to be put on abusive behavior that goes on, and I'm all very supportive of efforts to get help to the women who need it.
But I'm also wary of memes that pop up, especially when they involve sweeping generalizations or end up tarring a lot of people who don't deserve it. In fact, the narratives I now hear — from non-Koreans — sound a lot like the admonishments made by conservative Koreans about Korean women who marry foreign men back in the 1980s and 1990s.
And for the record, fattycat mentioned Korean "men that are 40 years older than" the women they marry, not men who are "over 40."
I didnt say they were ALL 40 years older. Some are. Some arent. Just like not all of the girls are poor. Some are just wanna be golddiggers or stupid. It was just an example.
I have only met a handful of ladies though that had less than a 15 year age gap. In the Philippines at least, it is not culturally normal to marry with such a wide age gap.
I just find it so funny that they hate foreigners so much, yet because of their sexual urges, are going to be overrun with foreigners in the near future.
Hubris, Ate, Nemesis.
The boost in fertility rate in this region is NOT solely because of the foreign women per se. It is also because of the (possible) increased rate of marriages in that area, where the main reason/purpose is PROCREATION.
The number of marriages is increasing because of the increase of foreign women being brough in. There arent more Korean women suddenly becomming interested in marrying poor farmers.
And why are they bringing in these foreign women? Not for the conversations! To be baby making machines. Carrying on a tainted family line is better than not carrying one on at all.
i am surprised that the K government has not enacted any restrictions on these migration / import marriages.
several European countries have done so after they saw their otherwise rather liberal immigration policy abused (f ex the Netherlands restricts people from Turkey / Marocco to unconditionally move to the NL to live with their spouse).
umakk69, I think we're beginning to see signs of increased government scrutiny of these marriages and, now, any marriage that grants permanent residence or citizenship.
But I think they had been so slow-going on that is that, well, they never thought of people trying so hard stay in Korea.
As I've mentioned on earlier posts on this topic, I'm not completely against these types of marriages. After all, as you point out, arranged marriages have been a big part of Asian cultures for ages, so this is no different. It does bother me to see foreign women who wind up with husbands two or three times their age, with husbands handicapped and unable to provide for the family, or who end up in some random village in the middle of nowhere.
Granted, the "blame"---if we want to lay blame anywhere---isn't only with the men essentially buying these women. After all, these women are coming to Korea to get money, and have visions of plush Gangnam apartments dancing in their heads. In English we usually call them golddiggers. Furthermore, what about the families back in Vietnam, or Cambodia, or wherever, who apparently value their daughters so little as to marry them off to Koreans? Or what about Koreans as a whole, who have neglected these rural areas and moved out of them in droves, so that they now rely on foreigners to repopulate the towns?
So, I'm not opposed to these types of marriages out of hand. I do have some problems with them, though. And I think it could be a source of trouble down the line, if countries like Vietnam or the Phillippines ever become more powerful, and can act on the resentment felt toward the country who spent generations throwing baby girls down wells and, recently, aborting female fetuses, but as soon as it became "developed" started buying young women from other countries.
@Brian
"what about the families back in Vietnam, or Cambodia, or wherever, who apparently value their daughters so little as to marry them off to Koreans?"
In their defence they often think that their children are moving up in the world and are going to get oppertunities that they never had. The way that Korea is portrayed in these countries is nothing short of propiganda and brainwashing.
When we were in Cambodia this summer there was a Korea Sprakling ad on Cambodian TV that kept getting played. The first time we saw it we didnt even know that it was Korea until it said so at the end! We didnt recognise any of the places.
These women are not being forced to come to Korea. I'd say the majority of them really want to come to Korea...but it's under a faulse image and faulse promises that Korea tries very hard (and pays alot of money) to make them believe.
People need to step back and look at the situation as a whole. We're talking Asia here, where arranged marriages have been a norm for thousands of years, for one family to arrange for their son to marry a wife from a "lower" family isn't a bad thing. Also these women ARE "moving up" in life, maybe not to the pinnacle shown on the TV's, but it beats the conditions they were living in back home. Or did everyone forget these women were living in 3rd world countries who have barest of social development.
I've been to PI before. Manila itself is ok, but once you leave the city proper everything is ramshackle and thrown together. The living conditions 20 miles outside the city were pitiful, and it only gets worse in the provinces. So for a daughter of a farmer of a poor country to marry the son of another farmer in a wealthier nation actually sounds like a good idea (from their point of view). These women CHOOSE to do this, and it they don't want to be in these relationships they can just goto their Embassy. It might be rough, but they'll eventually get shipped back to their home country. Of course none of they want to go back... I wonder why.
Seriously we need to stop using WASP when discussing these situations. These girls are NOT clueless innocent victims we think they are. This was a choice they made. Usually its between this, or living as a bar girl (if their lucky).
I have some reservations regarding this arranged marriages. I can say that most of the time, i despise this practice. Regardless whether this has been a practice in Asia since the dawn of time.
In the case of the Philippines, marriages with foreign people(Caucasians, Asians etc) is very common, and as far as the society is concerned, its well accepted. The important parameter that most of you missed in evaluating these inter racial unions is the social status and/or level of education of the person (at least for Filipinos/Filipinas) prior to the union.
Ive seen bar girls marrying white men, farm girls marrying Japanese and Korean men, other low income jobs etc for purposes of financial security. And Filipino men are not an exception either to this practice. It all boils down to one reason, financial security. There might be exceptions, but its very rare.
Ive seen also Filipino professionals marrying foreigners (Koreans). Men to women and vice versa. And 90 pct of the time, the age gap is non existent. A "small" fraction of Filipinas married to Koreans (currently living here in Korea) were previous English teachers/tutors in the Philippines before coming here. Some were accountants, nurses, IT professionals etc. The number of Koreans coming to the Philippines to study English is astronomical. Koreans are a common sight in prestigious Philippine universities as well as in small English language Institutes. So chances of inter racial union is very high.
Im not sure if this is the same case with other countries like China, Vietnam, Cambodia or wherever, but as far as the Philippines is concerned, this is the scenario.
@ palladin
Actually it is not an easy process for many of them to go back home especially considering the very tough divorce laws in some of the countries where these women come from.
You also forget that some of these women have tried to leave and have been beaten or even in some cases killed. Due to low education many dont know that they even have options but this is slowly changing.
Also, as someone who will probably be living in the Philippines in the next couple of years I resent the statement "beats the conditions they were living in back home."
That statement is realitive to what you want in life. When I go to the Philippines most people seem quite happy. They may be poor but they are happy with their lives and have strong family connections. Flip side to "developed" Korea where you see your kids when you put them to bed and everyone wants to kill themselves. I'd live in a bamboo hut in those horrible provinces you speak of in a second rather than live my life in a small grey box of an appartment in Seoul. (Going to have a goat, 3 chickens, a carabow, a mango tree and a banana tree too!)
@arvinsign
Your talking about a whole different ball game there. Bought brides for husbands in the rural poor of Korea are in completely different situations then what you are talking about.
You can't sugar coat the life back in PI (goes twice as much for Vietnam). The people outside the city's are only happy so much as they have no idea a better life exists. You ask any Filipina over here if they would give up their life here and move back to PI and life that life and see what they tell you. They may b!tch / moan about the various ills of Korean society (just like ex-pats do) but over here they have it better then in their homeland. Its not like the evil Korean farmer husband's made some sort of plot to prevent all these poor innocent farm girls from getting an education so they could be married off to the Korean's... or is that what you believe? Regardless of who they marry, they are still poor uneducated farm girls (or otherwise from the lower rung of society) and that's just their lot in life.
And you don't think the women will be beaten by her Filipino husband instead of her foreign Korean one? Just you won't know about it in the former case so therefor you can sleep soundly at night. Her absolute best option is to find some lonely 40+ white guy and get him to marry her.
People are targeting the symptom of the social problem and trying to treat that. It won't work. You have to identify the actual cause of the problem and work with it. In this case the cause is poor education and a social state that doesn't take care of its lower class citizens very well. Those girls wouldn't have to marry abroad if they had better options back home. The unemployment rate is atrocious. Young men are having hard times finding jobs that can feed a family, much less a young women being able to do the same. As an above poster said, the #1 reason for young women to "export" themselves is financial stability. They might not love the man, or even much care for him, but they can provide for their family and have a stable life. Neither of which was an option "back home".
@ fattycat
Im sure my post is related to what we are discussing, not directly but in a way. Since we dont have a statistics that says that all foreign women in Yeonggwang came to Korea via arranged marriages (bought brides/mail order brides), then i'll assume its a mixture of arranged marriages for reasons of financial security and a small fraction that doesnt belong to this group. Both groups then contributes to the increased fertility rate in that region.
@Palladin
"You ask any Filipina over here if they would give up their life here and move back to PI and life that life and see what they tell you."
My spouce is from the Philippines and we plan to move there. My spouce's sister is married to a Japanese business man and they are also planning on leaving Japan to go back.
"And you don't think the women will be beaten by her Filipino husband instead of her foreign Korean one? Just you won't know about it in the former case so therefor you can sleep soundly at night."
Actually, since I am legally considered by the Philippines government to be a citizan of the Philippines, am married to a Phillipine citizan, have hundred's of family members there and am involved in the Filipino community here in Korea, yes I would know. Why dont you spend a little time looking into the role of Females in Filipino society compaired to Korean society?
Ok let me amend my previous statement so you can't contort it. We're discussing girls who are basically mail ordered to be brides in SK. Is that how you got your wife? Is that how your sisters husband got her?
Ask any Filipina if they would leave their life here (native husband and money included) to return to their previous life in the Philippines.
You ~knew~ what I was saying and are just using semantics to distort the words I choose to use. Then further use that twist to somehow construe that I don't know what I'm talking about. Next you probably will go grammar / spelling nazi to pull attention away form your weak argument (what exactly was it anyway).
Nice attempt but anyone with a decent amount of intelligence can understand what I've been saying.
My point still stands, majority of the immigrant wives from PI are from poor farming villages, mostly in the provinces. They marry into Korean family's because it represents an increase from the previous standard of living. The financial stability it brings them and their family is the selling point. And while many of them withstand abuse, its no more or less then what they would of experienced from the same social situation (marrying poor farm husband) back home. Native Koreans are not victimizing PI women (that is what you've been implying) as brides. Its a financial arrangement entered into by two parties. One needs financial stability, the other needs a wife and children.
And as distasteful as you think it is, your not grand overlord of the universe and therefor your personal morals have zero impact on reality.
@Everyone else
Sorry for the side-bar, but I truly can't stand people who push their morals onto others.
fattycat.
And why are they bringing in these foreign women? Not for the conversations! To be baby making machines.
right you are. but i think i'd prefer Brian's term: GOLD DIGGERS. more evil.
palladin.
touché!
but...
And you don't think the women will be beaten by her Filipino husband instead of her foreign Korean one?
no. most filipino men have more respect for women than korean men. some beat their wives too, but most dont. they just don't have the money nor the financial stability that "foreigners" have. the women i have met had the same complaints: Filipino men have no money.
The people outside the city's are only happy so much as they have no idea a better life exists.
they do, actually. but here's another thing: haven't you read the story of the country mouse and the city mouse? the moral behind it is what makes these people from rural lands happy. it's even pointless to bring it up.
Yes I know the story about the mouse. The problem with that is once the country mouse goes into the city and experiences that life, its hard for them to go back to the country and "settle back down". I know this personally because I am from a small town / country region (in the US).
But more importantly, I am referring to the specific living conditions outside the major city;s of PI. Its almost mud-hit style conditions. Ramshackle thrown together housing, indoor plumbing is rare. The further you go from the city the less you see electrical wiring and some form of running water. Most house's have dirt floors and craptacular construction. In PI its up to the residents to provide the internal furnishings of house's. This includes floors, walls, light fictures, ect..
The separation of the poor and the rich is extremely visible. There is virtually no middle class, but the cost of living (especially outside Manila) is dirt low. This makes it an ideal retirement location for people on fixed income, especially if their married to a local.
In those living conditions... being "happy" is more about what you don't know rather then what you do. Can you imagine giving up your lifestyle to go back to that? Even the more rural / back-a$$word village in SK has better living conditions then the rural area's of PI. And the money the wife gets from the husbands family is usually enough to provide her family back home with a better life.
And from what I've seen over in PI, the local men don't respect their women anymore then the locals here do. Most SK men don't beat their wives, but the ones who do also happen to be the same crowd who probably would need an "imported" wife. Over in PI, that group (of men) just wouldn't usually get a wife to beat on.
The FIRST thing a Philippino woman does when she marries a foreign man is she tries to get pregnant. She knows that there is nothing special about her and that her best chance of holding onto the man is to get pregnant. When I walk into my local subway station and see four Philippino women with baby strollers and one who is pregnat, I want to vomit.
@ palladin
Oh palladin, you have made so many assumptions about my family's situation that are so foolishly ignorant it made me smile :) I don’t feel the need to go into the details of our personal situation but you should not assume that my sister in law or my spouse were not "bought". You never know, do you?
Could it not be that the people in the poor regions of the Philippines and other poorer countries could be happy because they have a lack of possessions? It is after all a belief by some that it is the desire for the obtainment of possessions that causes suffering. Due to Korea's high suicide rates, I find it hard to believe that their development has caused much happiness.
Just did a quick search though and it does appear that they are making complaints to their embassy.
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/219069/spousal-abuse-complaints-swamp-embassy-korea
"therefor your personal morals have zero impact on reality.
@Everyone else
Sorry for the side-bar, but I truly can't stand people who push their morals onto others."
Actually rather than trying to "push my morals" on others I plan to work in the education system in the Philippines to help educate young women as I believe a good education will help to give them more options. Some of us actually try and do something rather than running their mouth off on a blog about how things are just the way they are.
"I know this personally because I am from a small town / country region (in the US)." Then couldn’t it be argued that you are just assuming that they feel that way because you do? Sounds like you have your own issues with living in a poor region :P
"Can you imagine giving up your lifestyle to go back to that?"
My spouse will be doing just that. We like "that".
1994, my oh my.
Did you know that you came into this world through a pregnant woman? She vomited a lot, too.
@1994
"The FIRST thing a Philippino woman does when she marries a foreign man is she tries to get pregnant"
It's the first thing a Korean woman does too. It's the first thing alot of families in a lot of cultures do because the reason they got married is to have babies. And remember, it takes too to have a baby ;)
1994.
"the first thing she tries to do is get pregnant"
how did you get that logic? like tie up her husband and force his juice to swim up her ovaries?
We are forgetting that there is only ONE culprit behind all these specualtions: it's the word marriage itself. REGARDLESS of who they are, or where they came from, or how their brains work, they have decided to do this union anyway.
And we have also overlooked the fact that there are reasons other than money and kids behind each type of marriage; and not just the losers finding mail order brides, or the opportunist trying to land a greener pasture. There would be those pressured by their parents to settle down immediately, those who actually fell in love through online sites (dare to disagree?), those who were actually dating.
The title that was given to migrant women are painful: GOLD DIGGERS. It turned far worse: BABY-MAKERS. That's why i preferred Brian's term. (at least it didn't sound too naive)
I live in Yeonggwang, work with a Philippina who is married to a Korean and she is now a Korean citizen. She works with the local women's group which consists of both immigrants and Koreans. Young women who wish to get out of dire poverty (not necessarily golddiggers, Brian) often will resort to a marriage broker, who like most recruiters of any job including the military, will say just about anything. Some of these recruiters have told the women the men are rich and they will live in big houses. Then after they come to Korea, they are confronted with reality. And some go back to their countries.
Another reason farmers can't get Korean wives is because of the growing status of Korean women. There is a huge difference in city culture and country culture. In the city a women is much more equal to her husband. In the country the woman is almost a slave. Korean women know this and avoid farmers and fishermen like the plague. Even the young Korean women I know in town who have grown up here don't want marry a local.
Going back to my Philippina Korean co-worker, she is unusual. She met her husband while she was here working. Her husband had the required amount of money (30mil won) in a bank account that allowed her to become a citizen. (Read Ask a Korean about how to become a citizen.) She also learned to read and write Korean so she could pass the citizenship test. Most immigrant women's husbands don't have 30 mil won. Many cannot speak, read or write well enough to take the test, either. So if their husbands are OK, they stay, and boost the fertility rate, because it's better than being in abject poverty.
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