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Whistleblower
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
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 Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:42 pm Post subject: Immigrant Wifes |
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Immigrant Wives
Let's Look Straight at Barbarity Within Us
One killed herself. Another was beaten to death. A third was divorced after her duty as a surrogate mother was fulfilled.
No, these are not stories about ill-fated black women before slavery was prohibited in the United States. These are tales about Vietnamese women married to Koreans over the past few years ― tragedies that might recur unless something is done and very quickly.
It all started when some rural officials tried the job of matchmaking for bachelors not fortunate enough to win Korean spouses, by seeking brides in China, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. Their intention was good enough, but things didn't always go as well as they might have hoped, particularly because of their money-thirsty agents. For these brokers, marriage is not the bonding of two people with their own personalities but a business transaction, and a very slapdash one at that.
Signs hung on regional roads advertise such phrases as ``Vietnamese brides never run away," or ``Even the handicapped can have virgins.'' When the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination cited these as the examples of rights abuse and human trafficking recently, Korea's international image hit a new rock bottom.
The Vietnamese are not alone, and there are many similar stories of Filipinos, Mongols and Kazaks, among others, about 50 of whom visit a counseling center for migrant wives in Seoul each day. This is too much, although one in almost three marriages in rural areas involved a foreign spouse last year.
In Sweden, one of the advanced group of nations Korea wants to join, the government provides foreign wives with a free, six-month program, which teaches language and other essential knowledge for living in their new homeland. The training period is regarded as leave, during which time the government subsidizes their living.
If this scenario sounds too far-fetched, our government should at least get tougher in cracking down on unlicensed marriage brokers. A bill on this and other matters for improving the treatment of migrant wives, submitted by Rep. Kim Chun-jin of the Unified Democratic Party, has been sleeping at the National Assembly since 2005. Parliament should waste no more time. Before that, however, local officials need to at least remind the would-be bridegrooms that they are not ``buying'' their brides but choosing lifetime partners.
All this must have something to do with Koreans' xenophobia based on fictitious ideology that they are a homogeneous people, while there are as many as 25 sub-races in this nation. In addition, the inferiority complex and paranoia, rooted in their experiences of so many foreign invasions, are presented in two contrasting ways ― unfounded awe of white people and the even more groundless contempt for people with a darker skin.
``We didn't have the capacity to realize the small, pretty dream of a Vietnamese bride to become a wife in this country,'' said judge Kim Sang-jun of the Daejeon High Court, before sentencing the wife-killing husband to 12 years in prison. ``We all must confess to inner barbarity trapped under the guise of an economic, cultural power of the 21st century." |
Nice to see that Korea shot itself in it's foot ... yet again. Korea is so unethical at providing services and pursues financial gain. Why is Korea so greedy? Why do people always put money ahead of anything and decide to lie about it and claim happiness with the service? Why is Korea so racist? I want to go back home.  |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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hey OP can you at least correct the spelling in your topic post?
thanks for the article; unfortunately it's a sad state of affairs - and happens on a global basis, not just here. |
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Cerriowen
Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Location: Pocheon
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| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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Wives. Not wifes.
This happens all over. Even in the states. |
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PGF
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:07 am Post subject: |
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| Cerriowen wrote: |
Wives. Not wifes.
This happens all over. Even in the states. |
" . . . one in almost three marriages in rural areas involved a foreign spouse last year. "
This does not happen in the states on this scale. It's accepted here. Mail order russians or other asian brides are shunned back home in the states.
one in three! yeah, that happens everywhere, even the states.... ludicrous. |
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poet13
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
Location: Just over there....throwing lemons.
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:16 am Post subject: |
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| I live out in the country. I see them. 50-60 year old gits with an early twenties girl trailing behind him, eyes downcast, trying to be invisible. |
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purple_buddha
Joined: 18 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:01 am Post subject: |
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There is a place that handles advocacy for migrant women in Korea.
http://www.wmigrant.org/
And, their hotline is: http://www.wm1366.org/
Although their main office is in Seoul, they do have satellite offices around the peninsula. |
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just because
Joined: 01 Aug 2003
Location: Changwon - 4964
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:24 pm Post subject: |
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| poet13 wrote: |
| I live out in the country. I see them. 50-60 year old gits with an early twenties girl trailing behind him, eyes downcast, trying to be invisible. |
I see them quite often as well.....and they are becoming more and more frequent in farming areas.
I don't notice that they are SE Asian brides at first, just notice the age difference(you can tell it isn't father and daughter) and then it clicks what is going on....
I know not all marriages are unsuccessful and many unions are happy ones so you can't generalize but I am sure a huge amount are not the best situations, it must be pretty tough on the bride being thrust into a culture where they are expected to fill the role of a Korean wife's shoes. |
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Cerriowen
Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Location: Pocheon
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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| PGF wrote: |
| Cerriowen wrote: |
Wives. Not wifes.
This happens all over. Even in the states. |
" . . . one in almost three marriages in rural areas involved a foreign spouse last year. "
This does not happen in the states on this scale. It's accepted here. Mail order russians or other asian brides are shunned back home in the states.
one in three! yeah, that happens all over, even the states.... ludicrous. |
I didn't say it happened on this scale I just said that it happens *all over* and in the states.
I've known several people who "bought" their wives from Russia, Taiwan, Philippines, Mexico... One even from Saudi Arabia. |
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