Korean diplomat apologizes for paper disgracing Vietnamese women

03/05/2006
A Republic of Korean diplomat has just apologized to Vietnamese women after protests at home slammed a local newspaper as “cold and insensitive” in portraying the women as merely dying to marry a Korean man.

Ahn Tae Sung, attaché at the Republic of Korean embassy in Vietnam, also apologized o­n Wednesday to the 11 women whose faces appeared distinctly in the Chosun Daily’s article captioned “Vietnamese virgins coming to Korea - a nation of hope” dated April 21.


The article described a matchmaking process whereby a Korean suitor called Kim went to see his would-be brides and browsed through “a chorus line of Vietnamese women”.


The paper did not blur the 11 faces in line with media ethics. It even carried the words “Korean princes please take me home” under the photo.


Sung said his embassy had asked the newspaper to publicly apologize to the 11 women in particular and Vietnamese women in general.


The embassy had earlier received a letter from the writer of the article, Che Sung Woo, asking it to convey his apology to Vietnamese women.


“The content of the article and the photo [featuring the 11 women] clearly affects Vietnamese women’s human rights and dignity in a negative way”, the attaché said.


The article did not reflect the real situation of marriage between Vietnamese women and Korean men, he continued.


Earlier, six mass organizations in Korea had issued a joint statement complaining “the paper completely ignored its social and media obligations, emboldening an unbiased outlook o­n Vietnamese woman besides humiliating and violating their human rights”.


In related news, Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre newspaper has just sent a letter to the Chosun, asking the paper to apologize for the infamous article.

Source: Tuoi Tre – Translated by Thanh Nien Daily

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