Korean men caught at 'wife shop' in Saigon

Police in Ho Chi Minh City raided a hotel on Thursday and caught four South Korean men picking wives from a group of six Vietnamese girls at an illegal marriage brokerage service.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the service was organized by a group of brokers led by a South Korean man, who connected Vietnamese girls with foreign husbands.

The group changed location repeatedly in HCMC and Binh Duong Province to escape authorities.

Cases of Vietnamese women offering themselves as wives for Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese men are not uncommon in Vietnam. Most of these girls come from poor families and have a vision of a better life overseas.

Media reports suggest that many young Vietnamese women meet their future South Korean husbands through illegal brokerage services.

Statistics show that almost 40 percent of those marriages end in divorce within five years. Some blame cultural and language differences for the break-ups, while others say they have been abused by their husbands and new families.

According to immigration data published by The Korea Times, 147,295 Vietnamese people were living in South Korea at the end November last year, accounting for 7.4 percent of all expats.