Dear editor,
As a long-time reader of The Korea Times I am compelled to write regarding your March 14 article, ``Murderer of Vietnamese Wife Gets 12-Year Jail Sentence,'' in which it is reported that the man was sentenced to a relatively heavy punishment.
I was stunned and disappointed! Twelve years for murder of a foreign young woman? I can't help wonder what the punishment might have been for a Korean citizen or a wealthy man?
It seems that the life of a young foreign woman, married to an older Korean man for less than one year, is of little worth in the eyes of the Korean court.
Although the court is quoted as calling the killing ``a tragedy in which a Korean man selected his wife in a matter of minutes then treated her like an imported product," the reality belies any concern for such a tragedy, indeed.
What a shame that some of us today still consider such a human being to be merely ``an imported product'' by our actions (or inaction)!
This is not an isolated incident, as it attested to by both an editorial (about this case) and a long front-page report on yet another case of a young Vietnamese wife of a Korean man in another English-language newspaper Friday.
What will be the attitude of Korea to such ongoing large issues, faced by human beings because of their gender and national background? What is the role of your journalism in this regard?
For the sake of its own well-being in the future, let us work together so that Korea does not continue to show a face of callousness to its Asian neighbors, particularly in regard to women, marriage and the family.
Sonia Reid Strawn
United Methodist missionary
Seoul