South Korean authorities encourage men to marry foreign women. But their brides often become victims

Some couples have successful, happy marriages. But many foreign brides who meet men this way, officially classified as migrants through marriage, have become victims of discrimination, domestic violence and even murder at the hands of their husbands. More than 42% of foreign wives reported having suffered domestic violence -- including physical, verbal, sexual, and financial abuse -- in a 2017 poll by the National Human Rights Commission. By comparison, about 29% of South Korean women surveyed by the country's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family last year said they were victims of domestic violence -- again including a range of forms of abuse. Experts say discriminatory rules, coupled with sexism and racism in society, are to blame, and are pushing for institutional changes to keep foreign brides safe. For decades, there has been a gender imbalance in rural parts of South Korea. Young women often head to cities for jobs and marriage, while their male counterparts stay behind to tend their land and fulfill the Confucian expectation that they look after their elderly parents. In the 1980s, local governments started subsidizing private marriage brokers who could introduce bachelor farmers to ethnically Korean women in China, paying the brokers 4 to 6 million won (then around $3,800 to $5,700) per marriage. It was an attempt to address the aging population by encouraging men to find a wife, and hopefully have children. In the decades after, brides were no longer only ethnically Korean and began coming from more countries -- the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia. An industry of transnational marriage brokers soon emerged. As of May, 380 matchmaking agencies were registered in South Korea, according to government statistics. These days, more foreign brides in South Korea come from Vietnam than any other country. Most marry men in rural areas of South Korea, where some provinces still offer subsidies -- South Jeolla province, for instance, offers men older than 35 who have never been married previously a 5 million won ($4,190) subsidy for marrying a foreign wife and presenting a marriage registration. In 2018, 16,608 Korean men and foreign women married, with 6,338 coming from Vietnam, 3,671 from China, and 1,560 from Thailand. In total, 28% of all marriages between a foreigner and a Korean person involved a South Korean man and a Vietnamese bride. Part of the reason so many brides come from Vietnam is economic. According to CIA World Factbook, Vietnam's GDP per capita was $6,900 in 2017 -- that same year, South Korea's was $39,500. Brides are often young, and hoping for a better life. According to a government survey in 2017, the average age of marriage broker users was 43.6, while the average age of foreign brides was 25.2.