The Scourge Of Domestic Violence by Francisco Choi
As marriages are put off by young adults and the total fertility rate has dropped to the lowest in the world at 0.84 in 2020, South Korea’s population has begun to naturally decline with the number of deaths exceeding the number of births for the first time since records have been kept. In response to this existential crisis, the government has enacted a myriad of measures to encourage both marriage and childbirth, which unfortunately have failed miserably. However, one measure that has had success is international marriages which accounted for 9.2% of total marriages in 2019 and has risen every year since local municipalities started to subsidize private matchmaking agencies and rural areas such as South Jeolla Province have made welfare payments of $5,000 to Korean men over the age of 35 who marry foreign brides. The average age of husbands is 43.6 and the average age of foreign brides is 25.2.
There has also been a dark side to this social issue. There have been disturbing news stories about the domestic violence that these women, who are now living in Korea face, suffer from their substantially older husbands. The abuse of these women came to the forefront in July of 2019 when a viral video shocked the nation showing a Vietnamese wife being beaten by her Korean husband in front of their two year old son. The vicious and disgusting beating was for disobeying her husband by cooking Vietnamese food when he had ordered fried chicken for delivery. The 2 minute 30 second video showed the man repeatedly punching and kicking his wife in the head and stomach while the young toddler was clutching his mother to protect her.
This problem of domestic violence is a serious and daunting challenge facing women in Korea as these women are permanent residents of Korea through marriage and some even Korean citizens. The fact that they are immigrants should not deflect this issue as a “foreign” problem or challenge. Furthermore, the domestic violence problem is not just about foreign wives. According to statistics, 42% of foreign brides reported instances of domestic violence in a 2017 survey by the National Human Rights Commission and 29% South Korean women said they were victims of domestic violence in a 2019 poll by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. In comparison, it is estimated that 22% of women in the US have suffered from domestic violence.
The women face multi-faceted discrimination such as gender and racial discrimination along with institutional issues that results in inescapable situations. A majority of the foreign brides surveyed said they didn't tell anyone about the domestic violence as they didn't know who to tell and also didn't expect anything to change by reporting the violence. Compound that with the fact that they are living in a country that ranks among the lowest in the OECD by the Global Gender Gap report of the World Economic Forum.
Are changes occurring to help these women? Some laws have been enacted such as banning men who have been arrested for abuse from sponsoring a visa and Korean men and their foreign spouses having to prove they can communicate to get a visa. While these changes are a productive first step, visa rules that trap women in their abusive marriages need to be modified as under immigration laws, a husband has to sponsor their foreign wife's visa and there are instances of husbands threatening to cancel their visa sponsorship if a wife wants a divorce, which will result in their deportation. Additionally, the national police must train more officers on how to deal with domestic violence in international marriages and implement public service campaigns so that the women know they have somewhere safe to turn to.
On a personal note, a close family friend who I have always called aunt (“emo” in Korean) since childhood was unfortunately a victim of domestic violence. She endured years of pain until she finally got the courage to report it to the police which eventually got her abuser arrested. After, she quit her job and moved to a different city in hopes of never coming in contact with him again. She says that her worst fear is her former boyfriend showing up on her doorstep one day as he had vowed that they would die together. For her and the countless other victims out there, I urge lawmakers to enact stronger legislation that protects victims and harsher punishments for the abusers.