Hanoi - Police in Ho Chi Minh City have broken up an illegal marriage brokerage, which matched Vietnamese women and South Korean men, a police official said Tuesday. Police Lt Col Nguyen Van Nam said officers had raided a house in Ho Chi Minh City's District 8 at 2 am Monday, and had "caught red-handed" 161 women presenting themselves as potential spouses to seven South Korean men.
The men were fined an undisclosed amount.
Nam said police were holding a 34-year-old woman, Phung Bich Thao, and a 39-year-old man, Huynh Xuan Phu, for organizing the show.
Nam said the accused had confessed to brokering numerous marriages between foreigners and young Vietnamese women from poor Mekong Delta provinces. He said the agency charged brides a matching fee of 100 dollars when a foreign client chose them.
In recent years, Vietnamese brides have become popular in Taiwan and South Korea. South Korean statistics show over 20,000 Vietnamese brides residing in the country.
The Vietnamese public has become concerned that such arranged brides are vulnerable to domestic violence abroad. The Vietnam's Women's Union claims "most" Vietnamese arranged brides become alienated due to language barriers and a lack of cultural understanding.
Last year, two young Vietnamese brides in South Korea, Huynh Mai and Le Thi Kim Dong, died as a result of mistreatment by their husbands.
Mai's body was found in the basement of her husband's house eight days after he beat her to death. Dong died after jumping from the ninth floor of her building while attempting to escape from a violent husband.
