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Recently a Korean man left his Vietnamese wife when she was diagnosed with a tumor on her ovary. Citing her possible infertility as an excuse, the man demanded a divorce. She received W5 million (US$1=W945) in alimony and will return to her homeland soon. Han Kok-yom, the chief of the Women Migrants Human Rights Center, said that compared to other migrant women, the wife was lucky just to get the alimony.
The Center will open on Friday a shelter for migrant women in Jeongneung in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. It will take over from a similar facility that was ordered shut by the government for lack of proper qualifications. It will be the sole shelter in Seoul for 30,000 foreign women married to Korean men.
Han is a female reverend who devotes her efforts to helping migrant women escape from dire situations. Many migrant women suffer poverty, violence, neglect and isolation.
Han was able to borrow W130 million to move the shelter to Jeongneung. She found a house for just W210 million, but she didn't have enough money to make up the difference. With the guarantee of a church, she was able to take out a loan to finance the rest. For Han, apartments that cost billions of won are stories that occur in a totally different country. She plans to name the shelter after a person who offers financial support.
Some 31,180 foreign women married Korean men in 2005, up 60 percent from two years earlier. There are around 120,000 migrant women nationwide. We sometimes hear stories of Vietnamese or Filipino women who bring a breath of fresh air to rural Korean villages. But the reality is that for most foreign wives, life is difficult. They come to Korea to escape poverty back home, but 52.9 percent of Korean men who marry foreign women come from the bottom rung of the income ladder. As such, foreign wives are closely connected to the problems stemming from poverty. And when we hear unfortunate stories of migrant women, we cannot help but question Korea¡¯s preparedness for accepting multi-cultural or interracial families.
Foreign wives are sometimes beaten, locked in the house or barred from meeting friends by their husband or in-laws.
One out of every 10 Korean men who married last year chose a foreign bride. Women from Vietnam, Mongolia and the Philippines, and their children, settle in Korea as our neighbors. But there are few policies in place to support them. There are only five shelters nationwide for migrant women in difficulty. If we truly aim to embrace multi-cultural families, we wouldn't require a private organization to borrow money to build a shelter for desperate women.
This column was contributed by Pak Sunny from the Chosun Ilbo¡¯s National/Society Desk.
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