|
"I don't know why but at that moment, I knew I had just found my man," said Hong, 21, beaming at her husband who is 19 years older than her.
"Age does not matter. I am very happy now," she said in halting Korean, her gold bracelet glinting as she flipped through an album of their wedding photos taken in Ho Chi Minh City.
Her husband Kim Choong-Hwan, a 40-year-old truck driver, has only one regret.
"I regret I had no chance to meet a Vietnamese woman earlier. If I had, I would have married a Vietnamese," said Kim, who divorced his first wife, a South Korean, in 2002.
"Hong is six months' pregnant. I know it's a son," he told AFP proudly during an interview at their modest apartment in Osan, 55 km (34 miles) south of Seoul.
Kim is among a growing army of South Korean bachelors or divorcees who have turned to China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mongolia, Thailand, Russia, Uzbekistan and other foreign countries for brides.
 Kim Choong-Hwan
© AFP/File Jung Yeon-JeIn a country long known for its homogeneous make-up, government statistics show that the number of marriages to foreigners jumped 21.6 percent to 43,121 in 2005 -- 13.6 percent of all newlyweds.
Experts say many farmers who fail to persuade local women to accept a rural lifestyle, and surplus bachelors resulting from the traditional preference for sons over daughters, turn to foreign brides.
The National Statistical Office said 72 percent of international marriages involved Korean men and foreign women. Chinese brides topped the list at 66.2 percent, followed by Vietnamese with 18.7 percent, Japanese with four percent and Filipinas with 3.2 percent.
But Vietnamese brides are becoming increasingly popular. The number of such weddings jumped by 136.5 percent to 5,822 in 2005 compared to a mere 95 in 2000.
"Vietnamese women are quite popular here as they are considered the most tolerant to Korea's Confucianist, family-oriented culture and they adapt well here," said Lee Eun-Tae, president of Interwedding Co.
Hong said she had been a fan of Korean TV dramas aired in Vietnam, part of a wave of Korean pop culture spreading across Asia.
 Kim Choong-Hwan(L) and his Vietnamese wife Ngo Ngoc Quy Hong
© AFP/File Jung Yeon-JeHer twin sister married a Korean three months before her. Another sister has also tied the knot with a Korean who travelled to Vietnam alongside Kim to find a bride.
Kim said he had chanced on a street sign reading: "Why don't you marry a beautiful Vietnamese?" He visited a marriage agency in Seoul after he became frustrated with what he called materialistic local women.
"Their first questions are only concerned with your social status, occupation, income and the like. They don't care about character," he said.
Kim spent 10,000 dollars for a five-day package tour to Vietnam which included a wedding ceremony and a one-night honeymoon.
Decisions on brides are made within a matter of hours through a group get-together. Out of a line-up of 40 girls, Kim and five others made three picks each.
The brides and their families have the final say on who should be the lucky ones. They may reject all the men on offer.
Most such marriages are arranged by commercial agencies like Interwedding.
"Then, you may ask where is romance? But love is something that can come instantly and all the men and women taking part in this programme are prepared to get married very soon," Lee said.
 Kim Choong-Hwan(L) and Ngo Ngoc Quy Hong
© AFP/File Jung Yeon-JeBut couples like Hong and Kim can be the lucky ones.
Lee said some of his competitors failed to do their homework, screening bridegrooms and brides cursorily and introducing couples unfit to marry.
A government survey showed one out of every five migrant women found their Korean husbands different from the description they received from the agencies.
Activists say some foreign brides end up living with spouses who have few assets or are ill, alcoholic or of difficult character.
A 2005 study by the Ministry of Health and Welfare showed that 14 percent of 945 migrant wives surveyed said they had been beaten by their Korean husbands.
"Some Korean husbands, unable to get through to their foreign wives because of language barriers, get angry and beat them. They also tend to think they have purchased their wives," said Kwon Mi-Ju of the Women Migrants Human Rights Centre.
Activists say foreign brides often face serious problems adapting to a new life in a country with a different culture and atmosphere.
As a result, divorces between Korean men and foreign wives are rising fast, reaching 2,400 in 2005 -- up 65 percent from the previous year.
"Lured by the country's economic strength, many foreign women come here harboring illusions about Korea," said Yoo Kyung-Sun, an aide to lawmaker Kim Choon-Jin. Kim has proposed a law bill to curb reckless matchmaking by commercial agencies.
| 
