Cambodia Calling: Cambodia bans - again!- marriage to South Koreans

Friday, March 19, 2010

Cambodia bans - again!- marriage to South Koreans

In today's news. "Cambodian bars women from marrying South Koreans, citing human trafficking fears" by the Associated Press:

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — Cambodia has temporarily barred its citizens from marrying South Korean men after two dozen women were sold into marriage by matchmakers — the second time the government has imposed such a ban....

"The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Friday that nearly 60 percent of marriages to foreigners in Cambodia involve Korean nationals, and most of them are arranged through brokers....

Cambodia has banned the marriage brokerage business since 2008. Despite the ban, the number of Cambodian women marrying Korean men more than doubled from 551 in 2008 to 1,372 last year, [South Korean news agency] Yonhap said.

Also from Yonhap, "North Korean technocrat executed for bungled currency reform":

SEOUL, March 18 (Yonhap) -- North Korea executed a former top finance official last week, holding him responsible for the country's currency reform fiasco that has caused massive inflation, worsened food shortages and dented leader Kim Jong-il's efforts to transfer power to a son, sources said Thursday....

Pak, a 77-year-old technocrat, was charged with "deliberately ruining the national economy" as a "son of a big landowner," the sources said....

Pak's execution is the latest in a series of punishments the North has reportedly meted out to its elite for failed economic reforms.

Anyone else reminded of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge?

2 comments:

lea said...: I wonder why South Koreans are so hard up for marriage partners? You'd think China would be sourcing more brides due to their one-child policy and imbalanced male to female ratios.

As a South Korean by birth, it's terribly embarrassing to me that Koreans are such a large market for Cambodia's 'human resources'.; 6:25 am
Diana Saw said...: Hey Lea, many Cambodian women I know find Korean men attractive. They like their fair skin (and relative wealth) so I am not surprised they are the top choice for Cambodian women. Also, I once read Koreans are the biggest expat community in Cambodia, but I am not sure if this is still true. Many left last year because of the economic crisis. Reports say the number of Korean tourists to Cambodia dropped 26% in 2009.

On the trafficking problem - there are bad people everywhere who prey on vulnerable women. In today's Independent, a 19 year old Hungarian tells her story: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/diary-of-a-call-girl-1929226.html

I was the so sad reading this:

"Monday, 20 April

When you are trying to calculate how many men you have sex with, the result is irrational, scary and a waste of time anyway. I could describe it as something like trying to add up how many times you breathe in your life....

Please God, not any more of them today ... I would really like to have a rest now. I am hurting inside. I mean my womb, all my female organs. I don't really understand how the girls put up with it."

This is why we must all speak up against human trafficking.; 12:40 am

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Friday, March 19, 2010

Cambodia bans - again!- marriage to South Koreans

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