By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak said Saturday that the central government should work out programs to better protect the human rights of foreign wives married to Korean men.
As a solution to the increasing incidents of abuse of foreign wives, particularly those from Southeast Asian countries and China, Lee proposed having Korean men undergo mandatory education prior to their interracial marriages.
``Human beings are entitled to a certain minimum level of happiness, wherever they live. It is one of the obligations of the state to guarantee happiness,'' Lee said in an apparent reference to violence in multicultural families.
Provincial governments are focused on the education of foreign wives alone, he said. ``The federal government needs to reinforce the education of Korean men getting married to foreign women.''
More and more women from countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam are getting married to Korean men, particularly farmers.
President Lee also instructed the Ministry of Gender Equality to take systematic measures to protect female children from abduction and sexual assault.
He made the instruction Saturday amid growing social concern about child safety due to the murder of two elementary school girls by a neighbor.
``How do we protect female children? Aside from measures by parents, the government needs to consider mapping out systematic measures,'' Lee said.
He stressed the necessity for introducing after-school care systems in farming and fishing areas, saying, ``The saddest point is that the victims of the crime were children, and girls in particular.''
Many Western parents drive their children to school and pick them up but many Korean parents give their children more freedom to act alone.
According to police, sexual assaults on children aged under 13 rose to 1,081 in 2007 from 980 in 2006.