Foreign Wives Honor Vietnamese Spousal Abuse Victim

“We hope Koreans become just.” “We are human! Don’t beat us.”

These phrases were on placards waved by foreign wives Tuesday in front of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in Seoul.

Around 40 such women residing in Seoul and Incheon gathered to remember a Vietnamese woman who was killed by her mentally unstable Korean husband just a week after she arrived in Busan. Wives from Vietnam joined others from the Philippines, China and Mongolia in the protest.

A 25-year-old Vietnamese woman said, “Many migrant women couldn’t attend the victim’s funeral in Busan,” adding, “Though belated, we gathered together to offer our condolences.”

When another 27-year-old Vietnamese woman said in a condolatory message, “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you,” many burst into tears.

A 59-year-old Filipina who wept the hardest talked about her harsh life in Korea, saying, “When I took a taxi, the taxi driver sized me up with his eyes and tried to flirt with me, saying, ‘Are you working at a bar? Let’s go to a karaoke bar.’”

Another migrant woman said, “I’m afraid of Koreans. They dump mentally ill people whom they cannot take care of on us.”

Han Guk-yeom, head of the Women Migrants Human Rights Center, said, “The incident has exposed embarrassing parts of Korean society.”

jmpark@donga.com