42% of 920 foreign wives in South Korea reportedly suffered domestic violence
The Guardian reports that South Korea is banning men with a history of domestic violence from marrying foreign women.
South Korea’s justice ministry confirmed the legislation after footage of a 36-year-old South Korean man physically and verbally assaulting his Vietnamese wife in front of their young child.
In the footage, the man is seen slapping, kicking and punching his wife in front of their child yelling, “didn’t I tell you that you are not in Vietnam?!” The wife suffered a fractured rib.
The law will prohibit all South Korean men who have a criminal record of domestic violence, irrespective of when they committed their crime, from marrying foreign women.
Additionally, anyone who has been sentenced to a sexual crime against a child within the past 10 years or has received a jail term within 10 years will be also be subject to the law.
In a legislative note, the ministry said the new law will take effect in October 2020.
The Human Rights Commission found that 42% of 920 foreign wives in South Korea had suffered domestic violence and 68% were sexually exploited in 2018.
Vietnamese women are the biggest ethnicity of foreign brides in South Korea with China being the second.