Ministry of Justice to work with Korean Embassy

Mr Uong Chu Luu said:

I’ve read many articles about this issue and I’m very angry. A Vietnamese student at the Korea National University was previously treated sympathetically, but after the boom of marriage brokerage companies in the Republic of Korea and especially after the articles o­n the Chosun Daily were published many people questioned this student that whether she was in RoK seeking a “Korean prince”? This is no longer a legal issue but a social and moral issue.

After the Prime Minister issued Instruction 03 about marriage between Vietnamese and foreigners, the Ministry of Justice has tightened regulations o­n this issue. Specifically, couples have to go to justice agencies for interviews and the purpose of marriage must be defined before they are allowed to register.

However, they often send marriage registration documentation to the Republic of Korea (RoK) to register first, then when they are returned to Vietnam, we have to recognize them. Thus the Ministry of Justice will have to work with the RoK Embassy and Korean justice agency o­n the issue.

What is the specific measure for this case?

I think we have to pen a judicial inter-dependence agreement o­n civilian issues, marriage and family. o­n the other hand, we must realize that many of the women who marry foreigners do so for economic reasons, previously Taiwan and now Korean men.

This is an unexpected thing because the real purpose of marriage is often not realized. So we need comprehensive social and economic solutions to solve this issue. I mean the participation of localities, women’s and youth’s associations, the labour confederation, and even families.

If we have an agreement like you mentioned before, regulations o­n marriages between Vietnamese and foreigners will be stricter?

This agreement will cover specific issues like health check-ups, language similarity, marriage purpose, and so o­n. It is more important that there will be a combination of justice agencies for both sides. We banned marriage brokerage services but in other countries, for example RoK, this service is legal.

But marriage brokerage services still exist in fact?

In Instruction 03, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Public Security and local authorities to punish illegal brokerage services.