'Vlog ads of int'l marriage brokers violate human rights of foreign women'

Videos in the form of vlogs uploaded by local matchmakers to promote their businesses can be found by searching 'international marriage vlog' in Korean. /Screen capture from YouTube

By Lee Hyo-jin

A video posted on YouTube titled “Meeting my oppa for the first time” with more than 600,000 views features a Korean man arriving at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City being welcomed by a young Vietnamese woman. “Oppa” means older brother in Korean and is a popular term of affection that women use for older men.

After reviewing documents for the arranged marriage, the man is introduced to the woman's parents, and they spend some time together. The five-minute clip ends with the caption 'This couple plans to hold a wedding in three months, before which the bride will strive to learn Korean.'

Similar videos with titles such as “Blind date with hot Filipina” and “20-year-old Vietnamese woman meets 47-year-old Korean man” can be seen by searching for 'international marriage vlog' in Korean.

However, they are far from typical vlogs in which YouTubers portray their daily lives. Instead, the videos are uploaded by local matchmakers promoting their businesses, and viewers are invited to contact them for more detailed information about foreign brides.

The majority of these ambiguous ads, aimed mostly at Korean men looking for brides from Southeast Asian countries, were found to contain discriminatory and misogynic expressions, according to civic groups.

“Since the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has launched yearly inspections to regulate discriminatory matchmaking ads in 2018, they are evolving into storytelling videos like vlogs to avoid the regulations. It's hard to tell that they are commercial videos at first glance,” said Shin Min-jae, an official at the Women Migrants Human Rights Center of Korea.

Earlier this month, the center issued a monitoring report of 622 video ads posted on YouTube and around100 on portal websites.

Many clips were found to disclose detailed personal information about the bride and show her face whereas the groom's face is blurred with no information on his background given. Some contain misogynic expressions judging women by their body size, virginity, age and educational background.

The center showed the clips to a group of 12 female marriage migrants from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, asking for their opinions. They found the ads highly disturbing.

Their comments included: “It looks similar to human trafficking ― they are trying to sell the women,” “I am concerned that the applicants' personal information will be circulating online without their consent,” and “They are luring people to get married, showing only the good sides of international marriage.”

In addition to possible human rights violations, these controversial ads may be infringing on the Act on Marriage Brokerage Agencies, according to Baek So-yoon, a lawyer at Human Rights Law Foundation Gonggam.

“Under the current laws, all ads and promotions on matchmaking must include the registration number of the firm in order to prevent illegal brokerage agencies from operating. But many of the videos are missing the number,” Baek said.

“The government should cooperate with civic groups for closer monitoring and inspection, and actively respond to reports filed by marriage migrants.”