International marriage subsidies ending amid criticism

[PIXABAY]

Local governments in Korea are reducing support programs for international marriages in rural areas.

The programs were first promoted to combat falling populations in fishing and farming villages.

The Seocheon County Office in South Chungcheong notified residents in April that it would abolish a local ordinance that provides financial support to county residents who enter international marriages.

The law was enacted in 2012 to resolve the low local birth rate resulting from the county's aging society.

Residents between the age of 35 and 50 and who lived in the county for over three years were offered marriage subsidies if they married a foreigner.

However, 10 local governments have scrapped their support measures for international marriages since 2021 or are in the process of doing so.

This includes Eumseong and Geumsan County in North Chungcheong, Uljin County in North Gyeongsang, Yangpyeong County in Gyeonggi, Hwasun County in South Jeolla, Buyeo County in South Chungcheong and the provincial government of South Gyeongsang.

The Changwon City Office in South Gyeongsang on March 31 announced it was terminating support, as did Goesan County in North Chungcheong on March 20.

Most local support programs subsidize the wedding costs of unmarried male residents if they marry a foreign woman.

Specific beneficiaries differ region-to-region, from "single men living in farming and fishing villages" to just "unmarried people," from "single men between the age of 35 and 50" to "male fishers and farmers older than 35."

The subsidy could be as low as 3 million won ($2,298) to as much as 12 million won.

The measures were largely enacted between the late 2000s to early 2010 with several objectives in mind, including reviving the agriculture sector, increasing the population and responding to societal aging.

Local governments are now pointing to human rights issues as they abolish their support for international marriages, expressing concern that the subsidies encourage so-called "bride buying."

When local authorities support the "costs" of international marriages, in reality. they are supporting marriages arranged largely through so-called "marriage brokers." Critics say the marriages often end up looking like exercises in bride-buying rather than genuine marriage contracts.

"We decided to abolish the measure as the National Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family have been taking issue with it," saying that it "encourages bride purchasing and leads to sexism despite the measure's intention to increase the population," a spokesperson from the Goesan County Office said.

International marriages through marriage brokers have come under criticism for commercializing women and for being concluded in disturbingly short periods of time.

In fact, for international marriages concluded through marriage brokers, the average time period between the first meeting and marriage was just 5.7 days, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in 2020.

Koreans paid an average fee of 13.72 million won to marriage brokers, but foreigners paid only 690,000 won on average.

Whether foreigners were offered the same amount of information from brokers as Korean clients were, remains in doubt.

Another matter was the age difference.

Korean spouses who married foreigners through the intercession of brokers were mostly in their 40s and 50s while the foreigners were mostly in their 20s.

In January 2018, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family sent an official statement to local governments that offered subsidies for international marriages to "avoid such short-term programs and allocate budget money to support multiethnic households and women."

The National Human Rights Commission also stressed that there is "a need to improve support policies for international marriage from a gender-sensitive perspective to establish marriages and ensure family life based on sexual equality and respect for an individual's dignity."

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Women evaluated local programs to support international marriage in 2020, eventually concluding that the programs might violate human rights as they encourage people "to see wives who migrate to Korea as products who could be purchased."

The support programs were also criticized as sexist as only men could apply, at least in most cases.

Some 27 localities clearly specified that only "men" who married "women foreigners" were eligible. Only six local governments did not restrict eligibility based on gender, though even most of them previously restricted support to men before being amended.

Though such criticism has long surrounded the programs, local governments have only recently begun amending or abolishing the ordinances behind them.

"There have been many efforts to improve the quality of migrant workers' lives as the society has become multicultural, and people now see the struggles of foreigners in different ways," said Kim Ho-ki, a sociology professor at Yonsei University.

"The abolishment of international marriage support programs is one result of those efforts."

According to the JoongAng Sunday, this paper's affiliate, although 33 jurisdictions still had support programs on the books, only eight actually provided the subsidies.

The 33 places include 11 each in Gangwon and South Gyeongsang, three in South Chungcheong, two in North Chungcheong, two in Incheon, two in South Jeolla, one in North Jeolla and one in North Gyeongsang.

Jurisdictions that actually provide support are Ganghwa County and Ongjin County in Incheon, Goseong and Jeongseon County in Gangwon, Danyang County in North Chungcheong, Gangjin County in South Jeolla, Pohang in North Gyeongsang and Hadong County in South Gyeongsang.

The Gangwon provincial government is considering abolishing its ordinance, having already amended it by changing the term "single men in farming and fishing villages" to just "fishers and farmers."

"The issue of sexism has been resolved with the amendment, but we have suspended the program considering how it might encourage bride buying or household violence," said a spokesperson from the provincial government.

"The demand [for the program] has also declined due to the trend of people not getting married."

The Jeongseon County Office in Gangwon is also considering amending its ordinance.

The county office has allocated a budget of 30 million won to support as many as six households, of which three have applied and benefited from the scheme this year.

Local authorities are retaining the program for now as there is a demand for it. However, they are considering a shift to paying families over the course of three years if they continue to live in the county instead of a single lump sum.

"We plan not to limit applicants by gender," a spokesperson for the county office said.

Some argue that local authorities should refrain from supporting only international marriages.

"We halted the project as we thought it is unfair to support only international marriages when Korean nationals are also having a hard time getting married," a spokesperson at Samcheok City Office said. The city ended its subsidies this year.

The Seocheon County Office in South Chungcheong said it will abolish its program since "the new support measures for newlyweds will complement the previous support for international marriage."

Starting this year, the county offers a total of 7.7 million won for newly married couples who live in the county. International couples can apply for the program after both parties have become Korean nationals.

Low demand for the programs is another factor.

Samcheok City in Gangwon allocated enough money to support 10 people last year but had to repost its recruitment notice as there were so few applicants.

In Goseong, there were no applicants at all from 2020 to 2022.

"We have been discussing the scrapping of the program as demand was so low, but decided to continue it as two people applied this year," a spokesperson for Goseong County said.

Hadong County Office in South Gyeongsang earmarked budget money for two people this year but had to repost its recruitment notice as there were no applicants.

The number of marriages has been declining over the past decade, according to Statistics Korea.

The number dropped from 322,807 in 2013 to 191,690 in 2022. The number of international marriages also fell 35.8 percent from 25,963 to 16,666 during the same period.

The Covid-19 pandemic could be one factor for the decline, but the numbers seem to reflect a wider national trend of eschewing wedlock.

People also find it more difficult to apply for international marriage subsidies since the law on international marriage brokerage was amended in 2007, requiring applicants to submit more documentation such as proof of income and criminal records.

This rendered some fishers and farmers unqualified to use marriage broker services.

Many foreign women now refuse to marry men in agriculture and fisheries, too.

"Now there are so many things to prepare for international marriage due to the international marriage brokerage law, and it is difficult for those in agriculture and fishing to qualify," said Lee Hyeon-sook, CEO of marriage brokerage company LeeStory. "There are also almost no women who migrate to Korea to get married who wish to marry a man living on a farm or in a remote area."

She added, "They are no longer coming to marry just because they are poor. They consider multiple aspects of their future husbands, such as their appearances, occupations, academic background and wealth."

BY YUN HYE-IN, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]