THE ISSUE OF PROTECTING VIETNAMESE BRIDES IN KOREA
I. Introduction
Recent years, the situation of marriage between a Vietnamese bride and a Korean groom is no longer strange. However, the quick marriage and disagreements over language, culture and opinion have led to many cases of Vietnamese brides being abused or even murdered. On November 16th 2019, a Korean husband murdered his Vietnamese wife and dumped her body. Or the case that the Vietnamese wife who was abused by her Korean husband, had to flee to a temporary shelter, when she was divorced, she could not continue to stay in Korea to raise her children because she could no longer sponsor a visa and the divorce was not entirely her husband’s fault.
II. Reality
One of the reasons why many Vietnamese brides choose to marry a Korean groom is economic issues, the brides are often young and hope to have a better life. Most Vietnamese brides get married through matchmaking, the time to get to know the groom and come to a decision to get married is usually very short. The brides cannot know the real condition of the Korean groom. In fact, Korean grooms often live in remote areas, rural areas, with limited education and unstable jobs. In addition, there are differences in language and culture, leading to the fact that most of the husbands at home have an unhappy life, with frequent conflicts, quarrels and violence.
III. The disadvantages that Vietnamese brides face when deciding to divorce
1. Victims of domestic violence: Vietnamese brides who want to be able to work in Korea need to be guaranteed by their husbands an initial visa with a period of 01 year. After that, to continue to stay in Korea, they need to renew their visa every 03 years. It is this problem that has led to many cases of Vietnamese women after getting married to Korean husbands, even though they were abused, did not dare to denounce them. The language barrier makes it difficult for girls to call the police. Even when speaking to the government, very few cases are resolved because Korean law requires evidence, which can only be done by a lawyer, while the Vietnamese bride is not fluent in Korean and they don’t have enough money to ask a lawyer for help. Therefore, many Vietnamese brides choose to remain silent even though they are victims of domestic violence. Many Vietnamese brides choose to run away to live outside the law, the husband’s family reports to the police, so the movement is almost not free for fear of being caught by the police, abuse, rape…
2. Not allowed to stay in Korea to take care of children: Vietnamese brides come to Korea to get married. Korean law regulates that if the couple divorces and has no children, the wife must return to the country, unless it is proved that the husband is at fault leading to the dissolution of the marriage.
If they have children, the wife who wants to stay after the divorce to sponsor the children, needs to prove her economic capacity and the conditions for raising children. If not eligible, the wife must renew the visa once a year for the reason of visitation, is not living with the child and must have proof that she still visits the children every month and is working to earn money to support the child.
This makes it difficult for Vietnamese women to divorce their Korean husbands with the desire to stay and take care of their children.
It is thought that Korean legal regulations need to have measures to protect foreign brides from domestic violence and limit shortcomings in terms of length of stay and child care after divorce.