A recent report was too shocking to believe. A Korean bride-seeker in Vietnam met up to 400 women at one place and was forced to pick one in a few hours as if he were selecting a commodity. There were even price tags that differ according to the female applicants’ familial and academic backgrounds. The bulk of these arrangement fees went to Korean and Vietnamese marriage brokers. Is this a process for seeking life partners or human trafficking?
Some advertisements even attempt to attract ``problematic’’ clients, such as the handicapped and divorced, with higher price tags. Matrimonial frauds are also commonplace. Some foreign wives are deceived into marriages with Korean men who have no stable job or income. No wonder anti-Korean sentiments are rising in Vietnam and the Ho Chi Min government is moving to rein in the egregious matrimonial agencies. It’s time the two governments joined forces to root out these illegal, inhumane matchmakers.
For many foreign wives, the real troubles begin after marriage. Most Korean husbands, raised in a macho society, hardly try to learn their wives’ culture and language. It is almost 100 percent the wives’ lot to adapt themselves to their spouses and an unfamiliar environment. Society, more often than not, turns a cold shoulder, to these ``alien’’ women and their children. The government has recently been alerted to this discrimination and is seeking to improve it but still has a long way to go.
Seoul needs to see this issue from the ground up and come up with a comprehensive policy, while continually checking the implementation of the existing ones. Most of all, the measures should aim at not protecting the minority but changing the consciousness of Koreans. For instance, the adjustment training ought to also be directed at Korean husbands and their families. Moreover, the mixed-blood children should not be the target of discrimination but fostered as bicultural talent.
Like it or not, Korea is rapidly becoming a multiracial and multicultural society. The country should not just adapt itself to the new trend but make the most of it in advancing to the rest of the world. To begin with, the nation could do away with the discriminatory word of ``Kosian’’ _ people born of Koreans and other Asians.
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