|
July 12, 2006 ㅡ South Korean civic groups submitted a petition to the National Human Rights Commission yesterday hoping to protect foreign women marrying Korean men by legally regulating advertisements by local match-making agencies.
"The advertisements not only are damaging to the human rights of foreign women but also create prejudice and discrimination against all women," the petition read. Street placards, signboards and newspaper advertisements for agencies that arrange marriages between Korean men and East Asian women have been widely criticized, because they say such things as as "Marry a Vietnamese virgin" and "Buy first and refund available."
So Ra-mi, the lawyer who wrote the petition, said the firms "are operating and advertising with no government restrictions. Their advertisements appear more than ever on street placards, in newspapers, classified ads and the Internet."
She was speaking at a press conference held yesterday by 24 civic groups in front of the commission building in Seoul. "The current law has no basis to oversee and control those who use such phrases with gender and racial discrimination," Ms. So continued.
According to the group, there are 600 registered match-making agencies for international marriages but, including those unregistered, more than 1,000 such agencies arrange marriages between Korean men and East Asian women. Last year, about 13 percent of marriages here were between Koreans and foreigners. About 36 percent of Korean farmers and fishermen in rural regions married foreign wives, according to data from the Supreme Court.
The action came after the Chosun Ilbo newspaper ran a story in April on marriages between Vietnamese women and Korean men. The article, titled, "Vietnamese Single Women [wanting to go] to the Land of Hope, South Korea," was accompanied by a picture of Vietnamese women wearing number tags in front of a Korean man, with the caption, "Korean prince, please take us." The report sparked fierce criticism from the public, civic groups and the media in Vietnam, all of which demanded an apology. The newspaper sent a letter of apology to women's groups in Vietnam afterward.
Later, on May 20, joint civic groups here staged a street rally in Daehangno, Seoul, joined by Vietnamese students, married migrants and workers, to protest the news report and the advertisements.
The civic group has also invited people to sign a petition and upload offensive advertisements to a Web site (happybean.naver.com). So far, 421 people have signed up and 51 have uploaded pictures.
| 
