Many women from Can Tho Province get married with foreigners in a hopes of a better life, but reality doesn’t always match up with their dreams.
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| Alter of a Vietnamese woman who died after failed marriage with a Korean man |
Every year, since 2005, around 2,000 women in Can Tho have decided to marry foreign men.
The Department of Justice of Can Tho Province decided to address the issue at a seminar on March 10, in Can Tho City. The provincial Women Union, together with the Korean Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, held the seminar in order to discuss measures to improve the quality of such marriages.
More than 8,000 women in Can Tho have got married with Korean men in the past five years, according to the department.
Huynh Thanh Thao, Vice Chairwoman of the union explained that simple marriage registration procedures have resulted in the increasing number of Vietnamese brides in Korea in recent years.
In 2010, 1,364 marriages were recorded between Vietnamese women and Korean men.
There have been many adverse effects because not enough attention was paid to the suitability of the couples before marriage, according to Thao. Aside from divorce, there have been incidences of Vietnamese women being killed or forced to commit suicide.
Between 2007 and 2010, there were 107 requests for divorce from Vietnamese brides, she said.
The rate of divorce in marriages between Korean men and Vietnamese women is around 65%. Of these, 99% of the petitions originate from Vietnamese women.
Thao said, “Many of these marriages come from a desire on the woman’s part to improve their living conditions.”
“Most of these girls come from poor families, and they may not pay due consideration to the reality of the lives they will lead after marriage,” Thao noted.
Many of these Vietnamese brides have trouble adapting to life in Korea, and their husbands’ families, said Jeong Mi Sook, Deputy Consul of the Korea Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.
Also, according to Nguyen Thi Bao Tran, a justice official from Phong Dien district, “Many Vietnamese girls get married with Korean men to fulfill their parents’ wishes. They consider this is a fashionable trend and want to emulate the life changes that they imagined from the stories of their friends who have done the same.”
One option that was put on the table at the conference was to draft regulations that would address the issue in Can Tho. These regulations would be aimed at protecting the rights of Vietnamese brides who get married to foreigners, and to help solve any marital conflicts.
More than 90% of marriages between Vietnamese women and Korean men are arranged through illegal matchmaking agencies. Currently, around 30,000 Vietnamese wives are living in South Korea.
