By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
Some local governments are blamed for their misuse of budget on international marriages of old bachelors.
Rather than using the money for providing financial aid to multicultural families and old bachelors involved in international marriages, most of the local governments’ budget goes to marriage broker companies, according to lawmakers and civil organizations.
Haenam county of South Jeolla Province last year had 40 Vietnamese women as their new residents as a result of promoting its ambitious project on international marriages of old bachelors. However, most of the financial aid for international marriages for old bachelors was sent to the bank account of five marriage broker companies rather than bachelors themselves due to lack of supervision, according to Kim Jong-bun, a lawmaker from Haenam County.
Moreover, since Vietnamese women’s international marriage is only possible through state-run organizations, it is actually illegal for private companies to mediate their international marriages.
``The original purpose of the project for international marriage is providing financial support to bachelors. The purpose has been tainted due to wrong transfer of the budget, which indicates lack of supervision.’’ said Kim.
According to Rep. Choi Sun-young of the Democratic Labor Party, three provinces including South Gyeongsang Province, North Gyeongsang Province, Jeju island and 60 cities and counties have allocated budget for marriages of old bachelors with non-Koreans. About two million to eight million won of wedding fee is provided to one bachelor when he marries a foreign bride and a budget on promoting international marriage for this year has been set at 2.8 billion won nationwide.
The sum is six times larger than the budget allocated for helping married migrant women to adapt themselves to Korean society.
As for Geumsan County of South Chungcheong Province, while allocating 120 million won for promoting international marriages, it has not allocated any of its budget for supporting multicultural families. As for Haenam County of South Jeolla Province, the allocated budget for supporting multicultural families only amounts to 21 million won.
``The local governments should put more importance on distributing budget to help foreign brides adapt to Korean society,’’ said Choi.
Lee Ran-joo, an activist at Asian Human Rights Solidarity, said, ``When local governments give financial support to marriage brokers, blinded by money, those companies tend to force bachelors to marry foreign brides, leading to unhappy marriages.’’
``Financial support for broker companies that promote illegal and inhumane international marriages should be stopped immediately. Budget supervision should be strengthened,’’ said Lee.
The Migrant Women Policy Network plans to request the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea to inspect local governments’ use of budget on international marriages.