Corruption and Illegal Marriage Brokers from Southeast Asia

In Vietman, the rural areas are poor. Young women in search of a better lifestyle often contract with illegal marriage brokers who arrange a meeting with men from South Korea who are looking to bring back home a wife. Once the South Korean man makes his choice he arranges for money to be given to his fiancé’s family, who are desperately poor and need the money simply to survive. Once arrangements are made, The daughter finds herself a husband, her family is financially taken care of, she leaves the family home, easing the burden of one less mouth to feed and clothe, and all is well—no, unfortunately, not the case in many circumstances.

Stories are surfacing how these men, once they bring their new wife to their homeland, turn out to be nothing better than a slave owner who beats his new acquisition into submission or locks her up in a home far away from anything or anyone she knows. One could surmise the man was probably mentally unstable to begin with, which is probably why he could not find a wife in his own country and had to venture outside the country to find a mate.

Illegal marriage brokering has become quite common for Southeast Asian men from countries like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, who contract with "brokers" outside their homeland to places like Vietnam in search of a wife, claiming that native women are less inclined to take on a “traditional” role as wife.

The marriage brokers go to Vietnam and prey on the women from poor rural areas, near Ho Chi Minh City, where their offices are located. They go into the rural areas and contract with the young woman’s family promising that she will be taken care of in exchange for money and the deal is all but done. The only step left is to take the young woman and all of her worldly possessions, which are few, to Ho Chi Minh to meet her new man. After a short introduction, the deal is sealed, the paperwork signed, the marriage performed, the family is paid, and it is time to leave the country she has known all of her life to venture off to another country with a man she hardly knows, which is where the problems begin.

These girls are wide eyed with innocence. They believe, because the “marriage” broker promised, life would be better but soon realize the man is far less the man the broker had described. These men are often mentally or physically ill, alcoholic or just downright mean, which is sad when these young girls end up beaten and tortured.

Not all women end up in dire circumstances. Some of these marriages actually work out, but for the ones who do not life with a deranged man is a sad but real lesson that life is not always what it seems.

Since more and more stories are reaching the ears of authorities, Seoul said it would assign a task force to mitigate the atrocities that are happening as a result of the international "illegal" matchmaking business.

The government became involved after a 20-year-old “bride” from Vietnam was killed by her South Korean husband this past July. She was beaten and stabbed repeatedly only eight days after arriving in South Korea with someone who she hoped would give to her a better life.