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The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs on Tuesday announced a new set of programs to make life better for multi-cultural families in Korea, including language services such as translation hotlines, family counseling programs, and penalties for international marriage brokers who deceive their customers.
The growing number of marriages between Southeast Asian women and Korean men has created many culturally mixed families in Korea. But language and cultural differences can lead to serious challenges, such as difficulties in raising children, domestic violence and divorce.
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A family watches an event during a festival for multi-cultural families at Chungmu Elementary School in Seoul in October 2007.
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Under the ministry's new policies, international marriage brokers will be required to register with the government from June 15. They will have to take ethics training classes and buy liability insurance for their customers, and will face penalties of up to two years in prison or fines of W10 million (US$1=W1,043) for running fraudulent ads or providing false information to customers.
In order to help foreign spouses adjust to life in their new country, the ministry will provide multi-level Korean language classes at 80 support centers nationwide and even in-home language tutoring services. And from next year, a nationwide network of translation and interpretation hotline services will be set up to help minimize communication problems.
The ministry will also develop child-rearing programs for multi-cultural families, including home visits by counselors equipped with information and tips on overcoming the challenges these families face.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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