After Tuoi Tre (Youth) published a series of articles about the legal troubles that Vietnamese women face after divorcing their South Korean husbands, a South Korean agency based in the southern Mekong Delta city of Can Tho has decided to help them.
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“If those marrying South Korean men suffer legal complications, please feel free to contact us for help,” said Chung Dawa, head of the Korea Center for United Nations Human Rights Policy (KOCUN), based in Can Tho city.
The center is located at 151/9A Tran Hoang Na in Ninh Kieu District. Women in need can call the center at 0710.6253155. Tuoi Tre interviewed Dawa to find out more about this program.
* What will KOCUN do to support women who need help?
As mentioned in Tuoi Tre articles, the current biggest legal issue is that many Vietnamese brides could not legally marry again in their home country, because local authorities refuse to recognize their divorce decrees with South Korean men.
In such cases, we will suggest that the brides authorize KOCUN to contact the court in South Korea which handled their divorce and ask them to provide the necessary documents required by authorities in Vietnam.
However, if a Vietnamese bride fled South Korea on their own and their Korean husband has yet to file a divorce petition to a court, we are unable to help them with procedures to make a unilateral divorce in Vietnam.
We are also willing to provide Vietnamese women who have broken up with Korean men with vocational training, or offer them financial support when needed.
From early 2013 to present, KOCUN has received requests for help from 150 Vietnamese brides in several Mekong Delta provinces, including 54 cases in the first six months of this year. So far, we have assisted 80 percent of them regarding legal issues.
We are aware that the number of women we have helped is small compared to the real figure of women in need.
* Will you support children of Korean nationality that Vietnamese women bring to Vietnam?
That is what we really want to do. However, our current capacity only allows to do a little in this area. At present, we provide financial assistance to only two Vietnamese-Korean children.
The South Korean government provides us with just enough money to organize classes or other events to teach Vietnamese brides about South Korean food and culture.
But we believe more Vietnamese-Korean mixed children will receive our help and support in the future, as more sponsors have agreed to help.
* There are dissimilarities in divorce laws between Vietnam and South Korea. Is difficult for KOCUN to handle the difference?
Yes, there are several dissimilarities. First, courts in South Korea save divorce decrees for two years, and after that the decrees will be destroyed. Instead, husbands and wives are provided with a marriage certificate that specifies the time of their marriage and divorce.
But, the problem is that authorities in Vietnam do not recognize this certificate.
There is also an inconsistency between legal agencies in Vietnam. Authorities in some provinces allow Vietnamese brides to legally divorce their South Korean husbands, while others do not.
* Will there be any support in terms of assistance policies from the South Korean government for Vietnamese brides who have broken marriages with their Korean spouses?
I hope so. We have translated the Tuoi Tre articles into Korean and sent them to relevant authorities in our country.
Based on this information, KOCUN will consult the South Korean government for assistance policies. We do believe that the Tuoi Tre stories and what we are trying to do at KOCUN will have an impact.
Le Thi Thu Van and her daughter with the Vietnamese husband are now living in Thoi Lai District in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho.
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As shown in previous Tuoi Tre reports, many Vietnamese women have become ‘bound’ in their broken marriages with foreign men, mostly Chinese and South Koreans.
Many Vietnamese brides who have unhappy marriage with their Korean partners fall into despair and run away from their husband’s families with the legal status of ‘married woman’. However, when they return to Vietnam, they cannot officially re-build their own families on their home soil.
Le Thi Thu Van, who was born in Can Tho City, returned to her homeland four years ago after her husband’s family denied her the right to keep and take care of her son.
Losing the right of a mother at a divorce court in South Korea and being economically dependent, Van decided to free herself by fleeing her husband and her son to return home. Although her husband filed a petition for divorce in South Korea and was approved, Van could not afford to be present in court to receive a document of divorce.
Van has since begun a family with a Vietnamese man, but the relationship has not been acknowledged in Vietnam because she is already married by law.
Nguyen Hoang Khai, an official from Can Tho, told Tuoi Tre newspaper that Van must obtain the document from South Korea to prove her divorce so that she can officially marry another man.
The children of such couples also face problems due to broken marriages. Though they have foreign nationality and foreign names, the children have almost no knowledge of the country they were born in, because they were taken to Vietnam at a young age by their mothers after suffering broken nuptials.
Despite speaking Vietnamese fluently, the children are not officially admitted into schools in Vietnam because they are not natives by law. They are not allowed to benefit from allowances for school tuition as local children, either.
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