More immigrant wives seek divorce counseling

By Kim Rahn

A growing number of immigrant wives are seeking legal advice and counseling, mainly on divorce, indicating that many of them suffer from a dysfunctional marriage, according to the Emergency Support Center for Migrant Women, Thursday.

The center attributed it to a lack of understanding of interracial marriage by both husbands and wives, and difficulty in communication.

It provided counseling for 61,393 cases last year, up 24 percent from a year before.

Some of the wives sought consultations several times, and the center estimated the actual number of counseling users at 23,277.

This represents about 17 percent of the total number of foreign wives here — 136,372 people hold F-2 residence visas, issued to immigrant spouses, as of last September, according to the immigration office data.

Among the 61,393 cases, 10,604 or 19.5 percent were about legal advice, while 72 percent of these asked for counseling on divorce.

“Most discord occurs from difficulty in communication. As the couples have weak family ties, they are quick in deciding on divorce,” said Kwon Mi-kyung, counseling director of the center. “As interracial marriages are steadily increasing, more foreign wives are seeking advice and counseling on divorce.”

In 2009, the number of interracial marriages was 33,300, but about a third of these or 11,692 ended in divorce.

Kwon said several issues are connected in migrant women’s counseling — domestic violence leads to discord among family members or even divorce, and this leads to trouble with their stay here. About 7,000 counseling cases were about domestic violence, which eventually becomes the reason for broken marriages.

“Many Korean husbands keep the foreign wives’ alien registration cards and don’t give them enough living expenses, out of fear that they may run away. Such acts are basic human rights infringement,” she said. “Korean families also demand foreign wives adapt themselves to the new and patriarchal culture quickly. With communication problems added, such discord causes marital breakdowns.”

The director also noted that some foreign wives marry Koreans for the purpose of coming here, without reviewing marital life.

“Such women consider divorce easily when the husband and in-laws don’t meet their expectation, without actively trying to adapt themselves to the new environment,” Kwon said, adding foreign countries should offer prior education about life in Korea and interracial marriage to women who get married to Koreans.