South Korea is to enact legislation that will ban men with a history of domestic violence from marrying foreign women, the justice ministry has confirmed. The ministry said the change was prompted by national outcry over footage that emerged in July showing a 36-year-old South Korean man physically and verbally assaulting his Vietnamese wife in front of their young child.
About 6,000 Vietnamese women marry men in South Korea every year, overtaking China as the country sending the largest number of foreign brides to South Korea, according to the South Korean embassy in Hanoi.
The amendment will prohibit South Korean men from inviting foreign women to the country for the purpose of marriage if they have a criminal record of domestic violence, irrespective of when that occurred.
Photo: Pixabay
照片：Pixabay
Anyone sentenced to a sexual crime against a child within the past 10 years, or who has received a jail term in the same time, will also be subject to the newly amended law.
The new amendment to the country’s immigration control laws will take effect in October next year, the ministry said in a legislative note published on Oct. 10.
Video of the July incident was posted on social media and caused widespread public outrage, highlighting the vulnerable position of foreign women who marry abusive spouses.
In 2018 a study by the National Human Rights Commission found that of 920 foreign wives in South Korea, 42 percent had suffered domestic violence, while 68 percent had experienced unwanted sexual advances.
Footage of the assault, which occurred in the south-western county of Yeongam, shows the man slapping and kicking his wife and then repeatedly punching her in the head in front of their young child. “Didn’t I tell you that you are not in Vietnam,” he shouts. Later the Vietnamese woman is seen slumped in the corner of her home as her two-year-old son cries next to her.
In interviews with police the husband said he was drunk at the time and assaulted his wife because “she did not speak fluent Korean.” Following the assault the victim fled to a women’s shelter with her son and treated for a fractured rib.
Activists say that while a high proportion of migrant wives experience abuse, few report their cases to the police.
South Korea’s justice ministry said the legal revision to the country’s immigration control law was intended to prevent domestic violence from occurring and protect the rights of migrant spouses.
(The Guardian)
南韓法務部證實，將立法禁止有家庭暴力紀錄的男子與外國婦女結婚，並指出促使該項立法的，是七月出現的一段影片所引發的全國強烈抗議──影片中一名三十六歲的南韓男子當著幼子的面，對越南籍妻子施暴，包括毆打和辱罵。
南韓駐越南河內大使館表示，每年約有六千名越南籍婦女嫁給南韓男性，使越南超越中國，成為對南韓輸出外國新娘最多的國家。
這項修法將禁止有家暴前科的南韓男子邀請外國婦女赴南韓結婚，無論家暴紀錄是發生在何時。
在過去十年內對兒童性犯罪被判刑或因而入獄的人，也將受到新修訂法律的約束。
南韓法務部在十月十日發布的立法說明中表示，移民管理法的這項新修正案將於明年十月生效。
該家暴影片七月在社群媒體上發布後，普遍引起公憤，突顯出嫁給有施虐傾向配偶之外國女性的弱勢處境。
南韓國家人權委員會二○一八年的一項研究發現，在所調查的九百二十名外籍配偶中，有百分之四十二遭到家暴、百分之六十八曾被迫發生性行為。
該家暴事件發生在南韓西南部的靈岩郡，影片中該男子打妻子耳光並用腳踹她，然後當著他們年幼孩子的面反覆毆打她的頭。男子咆哮道：「我不是告訴妳說，妳現在不是在越南？」後來這位越南女子被打倒在屋內一角，兩歲的兒子在她身旁哭泣。
男子在接受警方偵訊時說，當時他喝醉了，他毆打妻子是因為「她不會說流利的韓語」。被暴力攻擊後，該受害婦女帶兒子逃往婦女庇護所，並因肋骨斷裂而接受治療。
社運人士說，雖然有很高比例的外籍妻子遭受虐待，但很少有人向警方報案。
南韓法務部表示，修訂移民管理法的目的，是防範家庭暴力，以及維護移民配偶的權利。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
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Questions:
1. What incident prompted South Korea’s Ministry of Justice to amend immigration law to ban male citizens with a record of domestic violence from marrying foreign women?
2. What is the purpose of the amendment?
3. In your opinion, why do a very low proportion of abused foreign spouses report their cases to the police?
4. How is domestic violence addressed in your own country?
(Lin Lee-kai, Taipei Times)
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