KOREA STRUGGLING TO COPE WITH FOREIGN WIVES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001419 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/03/2019 TAGS: PGOV ECON KPAO SOCI PHUM KS SUBJECT: KOREA STRUGGLING TO COPE WITH FOREIGN WIVES Classified By: POL M/C James L. Wayman. Reasons 1.4 (b),(d). ¶1. (C) Summary: The number of Korean men marrying foreign women has increased dramatically in the past decade, and in 2006 41 percent of rural marriages were international marriages. Most arrangements are intended to be mutually beneficial -- men facing a shortage of eligible brides and women seeking economic stability. Differing expectations, abuse, and fraud, however, cause many of these marriages to end in separation or divorce. The Korean Government has taken steps to protect these women -- including easing immigration restrictions and regulating brokers -- and has plans for new initiatives to limit the potential for abuse. Challenges remain, however, as society struggles to adapt to the increasingly multicultural environment of rural Korea. End Summary. -------------- Demographic Shift Drives Foreign Marriages -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In the last decade Korea has seen a rapid growth in the number of international marriages, which tripled from 2001 to 2006. Foreign wives now constitute over 10 percent of the foreign population in Korea. Eleven percent of all marriages in Korea were international marriages (2007),and in rural areas 41 percent of marriages were international marriages (2006). ¶3. (SBU) The increasing demand for foreign brides is a byproduct of South Korea's declining birth rate and gender imbalance. Rural Korean men constitute the largest consumers of international marriage broker services, largely because increasingly well-educated Korean women are reluctant to live in the countryside. Furthermore, the gender imbalance stemming from a cultural favoritism toward sons means that as a whole, men outnumber women. The result is an impetus to look abroad for wives. -------------- -------------- Economics Prompts Foreign Women to Seek Korean Husbands -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, foreign brides emigrate in greatest numbers from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, and Mongolia, respectively. Of the 127,683 foreign marriages in 2008, 48,888 were to Chinese women of Korean descent. Most of these foreign brides come seeking better economic opportunity through marriage. They are often disappointed when their Korean husbands, of whom they form expectations based on highly popular Korean dramas, turn out to be poor or mentally or physically handicapped. According to Reverend Han Kuk-yom of the Korea Women Migrants' Human Rights Center, the fundamental problem in international marriages is that the majority -- 52.9 percent -- of Korean men who marry foreign wives live in absolute poverty. For foreign brides, "The first reason to come here is economic, and the first reason they have difficulty living here is economic," Han said. -------------- Challenges Abound -------------- ¶5. (C) As the number of foreign wives has increased, so have the number of problems associated with these marriages. Yonhap News Agency reported in 2007 that one out of every ten foreign spouses suffers domestic violence, and three out of ten suffer verbal abuse. These numbers are actually in sync with the national average, but foreign women lack the informal support structures that Korean women have access to and formal support systems are still struggling to meet demand. Of the seven shelters for foreign women in Korea, all were full in early August, and Sister Virginia Kim said her own shelter, Friendship House, was accommodating 14 women with children in a facility meant for 12 people. Kim said one of the challenges in accepting foreign wives into shelters was that most shelters -- for foreign or Korean women -- only accepted women who could prove physical abuse. Not enough attention, Kim said, was paid to women who encountered verbal or psychological abuse. ¶6. (C) Despite these harsh realities, the number of international marriages has increased by about 17 percent each year, said Han Kuk-yom. The Ministry of Justice reported that over three out of every four naturalized Korean citizens were women, with those in their 20s and 30s comprising the largest group. Brokers aggressively recruited prospective husbands and rural governments, concerned by the dwindling size of villages and the drain of young people to cities, also encouraged the practice. -------------- System Vulnerable to Abuse -------------- ¶7. (C) Long term, international marriages are not likely to have a high rate of success. Han Kuk-yom estimated there would be a long-term success rate of fifty percent; Sister Virginia Kim was less optimistic, guessing at best 2 percent. Moreover, only one-third of foreign wives achieved full citizenship, Han said. In an effort to alleviate this problem, the Korean Government reduced from four to two the number of years of married life required before a foreign wife is eligible to apply for citizenship, and has announced a plan to reduce this wait period to only one year. Also, the number of class hours required for foreign wives is less than those required for other immigrants seeking citizenship. Still, according to Ministry of Justice statistics 8 in 100 foreign wives ended up as illegal residents. ¶8. (C) Anecdotally, NGOs cite a small number of cases of fake marriages used as cover for trafficking. Han Kuk-yom said that fake marriage schemes usually came in two scenarios. In the first, brokers deceived foreign brides-to-be, telling them that if they remain married for three months, they could leave afterwards and obtain jobs in Korea. These promised "jobs" however were typically as hostesses and prostitutes in clubs and bars. As soon as these women left their husbands, they were technically deprived of their marriage migration status, and as such, ineligible for legitimate jobs. In the second scenario, matchmaking agencies paid Korean men over USD 7000 each year to act as legal husbands on paper, while the foreign wives were put to work in clubs and bars. According to Sister Virginia Kim, many women abuse the system as well -- hoping to stay married for the minimum amount of time in order to gain Korean citizenship. -------------- --- Matchmaking Services Lucrative, Hard to Regulate -------------- --- ¶10. (C) According to National Assembly Gender Equality Committee staffer Cha In-soon, the international marriage brokerage was a 75 billion won industry spanning Asia and was highly lucrative for those who engage in it. Korean bachelors paid an average of 10 to 15 million won (approximately USD 8,000-12,000) in broker fees to get married. Over 1,000 marriage brokerage agencies operated in Korea, and many more existed unreported. Further complicating the picture, Sister Virginia Kim noted that, as more foreign brides came to Korea, more matchmaking was occurring through personal connections, not through official brokers. ¶11. (SBU) Recent government initiatives to address the exploitation of foreign wives included the 2007 Act on Management of Marriage Brokerage Business, passed by the National Assembly, which required matchmaking agencies to register with regional government offices and abide by both Korean and host country laws. Furthermore, the act prohibited false or excessive advertisement and provided for the suspension of businesses that did not comply. ¶12. (C) Pending in the National Assembly is a Revised Marriage Brokerage Act, introduced by GNP Representative Kim Choon-jin. According to Cha In-soon, the revised bill stipulated that: 1) brokers provide the health conditions, criminal records, and previous marital history of both bride and groom in their native languages; 2)all brokers dispatched by Korean matchmaking agencies fall under Korean law, closing a previous legal loophole; 3) registered brokers receive regular human rights education; and 4) brokers buy insurance to compensate victims in the event the foreign spouse runs away. Given the GNP's majority in the Assembly, Cha expected the bill to pass in the legislative session this fall. ¶13. (C) Han Kuk-yom also outlined other ROKG-sponsored efforts to help both the brides and husbands adapt to their new lives. Starting this year, the government augmented existing programs targeting foreign wives with programs focusing on the Korean husbands. Men who register for and attend classes on culture, language, and human rights get incentives and special benefits from their local governments. Such efforts are in line with 2008 changes to Korean law aimed at expanding government support from just foreign wives to a more holistic approach geared toward multicultural families. -------------- Children Left Behind? -------------- ¶14. (C) The greater challenge for Korea, however, is integrating the children from international marriages, Sister Virginia Kim and Han Kuk-yom said. Just this year, ROKG policies had begun to focus on the 50,000 mixed-race children in Korea, who were starting to approach school age. Korea's schooling system, geared toward a homogenous society, was unprepared to deal with foreign or mixed-race children, who often fell behind because Korean is not their native language. They faced stigmatism and prejudice from peers and educators, who tended to classify them as learning challenged. Local governments had started to put support systems in place, but the ROKG's efforts to help these children were still nascent. -------------- Korea's Changing Composition -------------- ¶15. (C) Korea's gradual shift from a homogenous to a multicultural society will not be without its growing pains. The challenge for Korea, Cha In-soon said, is that "the law has changed faster than the people's mindsets." Most Koreans were unaware of the vulnerability of unregistered women to trafficking and did not consider forced labor outside of the sex industry as "trafficking." Cha said that increasing awareness of disadvantaged segments of society was hard, particularly when the average Korean was more focused on his own welfare -- education, employment, and financial security. Cha prescribed more awareness campaigns, and said that while policies and institutions could not force cultural change, they certainly could lead the necessary shift in attitude among Koreans. TOKOLA