A South Korean delegation met with Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday and proposed to create an agency to coordinate marriages between Cambodians and South Koreans, Interior Ministry Secretary of State Chou Bun Eng said yesterday.
Ms Bung Eng said a delegation led by a South Korean parliamentarian, whose name she could not remember, made the proposal to the premier.
“We just learned that they asked Samdech [Hun Sen] to set up a body to coordinate the marriages between Koreans and Cambodians,” Ms Bun Eng said. “We don’t know what it is and it’s not clear,” she said, adding that officials would study the proposal to see if it guarantees the safety of the migrating brides.
Ms Bun Eng said South Korean officials had made similar proposals in recent months after the government in March banned marriages between Cambodian citizens and South Koreans.
South Korean officials were unavailable yesterday. The government introduced the ban on grounds that the unions-often set up by unregulated marriage brokerage agencies-provide cover for human trafficking.
In April the ban was superseded by rules that require foreigners seeking to marry Cambodian citizens to be present with their partners at all stages of the marriage process.
Ms Bun Eng said officials were wary of the South Korean proposals designed to facilitate the marriages, as life for Cambodian women in South Korea could be difficult.
“They have to be the wife and serve all [the husband’s] family members. Even working in a factory is better since the women have a salary and contract with an end date,” she said.
Koy Kuong, spokesman at the Foreign Ministry, also said the Korean Embassy had recently requested the government to develop a program that would prepare Cambodian women for life with their South Korean husbands.
“The Korean Embassy asked us to prepare a pre-departure program for women who marry Korean men… So that they can understand about Korean culture,” Mr Kuong said. “We’re considering about that,” he added.
