Vietnam
to ban marriage with Korean men aged 50 years or older
The Korea Times
02-17-2012
Vietnamese authorities have recently enacted strict measures to prohibit young
Vietnamese women from marrying Korean men over the age of 50 beginning as early
as April, a local association of international marriage brokers said Friday.
The move comes as such a matchmaking practice common among international
marriage brokers continues to draw strong criticism from women's groups and
human rights advocates for its similarities to human trafficking practices.
"Last week, representatives of Vietnam's administrative regions gathered up and
discussed these (restrictions), and decided to implement them starting in
April," said Han You-jin, the head of the association.
The reportedly agreed upon measures also prohibit marriages between
Korean-Vietnamese couples who have age gaps of more than 16 years, according to
Han.
International brokers' marriage arrangements, primarily between middle-age men
and young foreign brides from Southeast Asian nations in search of new
opportunities outside of their home countries, have frequently been criticized
and labeled as human trafficking.
Last year's stabbing death of a newly-wed Vietnamese woman by her husband, 14
years older than her, also stirred concerns over foreign wives who marry Korean
men through brokers without sufficient background knowledge about their spouses.
"The measures are believed to have been taken as Vietnam's quasi-government
union of women reacted critically to side effects of such international
marriages," Han said. "They will likely lead to a sharp drop in local marriages
with Vietnamese women."
Kim Seong-chul, an official of the local Ministry of Gender Equality and Family,
said the country should wait and see whether Vietnam implements any binding
measures over the international marriage issue.
According to official data, 37,335 Vietnamese women are legally residing in
Korea through marriages with Korean men. The Vietnamese spouses account for
about one fourth of the total population of foreign spouses here.
Amid rising concerns over such marriage arrangements, Cambodia also introduced
tighter regulations, banning marriages between Cambodian women and Korean men
over the age of 50 that have a monthly income of less than $2,550