A 26-year-old Vietnamese wife who lost custody of the children she bore to her South Korean husband has become the latest “desperate housewife” case to stir public opinion in Vietnam and South Korea.
A Seoul court awarded custody of Thu Ha’s two children to her 53-year-old ex-husband, online Korean newsite Newsis reported on Sunday.
In 2005, two years after marrying her Korean husband, Ha realized she had been “hired” to produce children, Newsis reported.
Her husband had ended his first childless marriage and married Ha. After Ha produced two babies, her husband divorced her, forcing her to abandon her babies, and returned to his first South Korean wife, the newspaper said.
Ha went to a support center for foreign laborers in Seoul for help, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on July 9, 2007, citing Korea’s Hankyoreh online newsite.
Korean lawyer So Mar Ri agreed to defend her.
Ha’s story caused outrage in Korea, with most sympathizing with her plight.
But at the conclusion of the February 15 trial, Seoul Court Judge Shin Han Min dismissed Ha’s claim, saying “considering her relationship with children and her capacity to raise them, it is more appropriate to let the father raise his children.”
Mixed marriages
More than 90 percent of mixed marriages between Vietnamese women and South Korean men are arranged through illegal matchmaking agencies, Jeon Man Gil, an official from the Department of Support and Advisory for Mixed Families in Okcheon, told Tuoi Tre during her visit to Vietnam late last month.
There are now some 30,000 Vietnamese wives living in South Korea, making Vietnamese the second largest foreign community in the East Asian country after the Chinese.
Man Gil said many Vietnamese housewives and Korean husbands tried their best to get to know each other and had happy lives. But there were still many families struggling with cultural differences and misunderstandings.
The number of Vietnamese women arranged to marry Korean men through illegal agencies is huge, she said. Some unlucky Vietnamese brides are even forced to work to pay for the “debts” their families in Vietnam owe to the matchmaking services. Others are locked up to prevent them escaping and returning home, she said.
The South Korea has some 100 centers providing information and training for mixed families, including language, cooking, housework and baby feeding classes.
Desperate housewives
Much has been said about domestic violence against Vietnamese brides abroad. Vietnam Women’s Union says "most" Vietnamese arranged brides become alienated due to language barriers and a lack of cultural understanding.
Vietnamese women in arranged marriages with Korean men usually came from poor rural families, mostly in the Mekong Delta provinces, who hoped to better their lives.
Most Korean men who married to foreign women were from rural areas, which still followed old-fashioned traditions and customs.
In 2007, two young Vietnamese women, Huynh Mai and Le Thi Kim Dong, died in South Korean as a result of mistreatment by their husbands.
In March last year, Korean media reported a court sentenced a Korean man to 12 years imprisonment for beating his Vietnamese wife, Huynh Mai, to death, in June 2007.
Another Vietnamese bride, Le Thi Kim Dong, committed suicide while she was pregnant, in April 30, 2007.
In February 6, 2008, Tran Thanh Lan, a 22-year-old bride, committed suicide in South Korea.
According to a survey conducted by the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea, only around 50-60 percent of Vietnamese women said they had happy marriages with Korean men.
POST YOUR COMMENT
City & Country
Phone Number
We will not publish
your email or full address on our website, or give them to a third party.
Tags:
Vietnamese brides, South Korea
Vietnews is not responsible
for the content of external internet sites.