Authorities fined the broker and the owner of the karaoke bar 2 million dong (US$125, euro89) each for running an illegal marriage brokerage for foreigners, a police officer in Ho Chi Minh City said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Commercial matchmaking services are illegal in Vietnam, although the government allows nonprofit services run by the Women's Union. The broker was suspected of taking women to the karaoke bar on Sunday where they were introduced to two South Korean men, the officer said.
The women, aged between 18 to 36, were sent back to their home provinces, mostly in the southern Mekong Delta, he said.
Monday's Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper quoted one of the women, a 21-year-old, as saying she wanted to look for a foreign husband to help her family.
Customers pay the broker US$1,500 (euro1,067) for a bride, which includes US$500 (euro355) for the woman, the paper said.
Despite being illegal, matchmaking services rings have sprung up in recent years to help men from South Korea and Taiwan -- both wealthier countries than Vietnam -- find Vietnamese wives. Police have broken up several such rings, sending dozens of women back to their village homes.
Thousands of Vietnamese women marry South Korean and Taiwanese men each year.
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