The recent funeral of a Vietnamese woman who was murdered by her Korean husband rekindled concerns about international marriages amid a growing number of foreign wives consulting the government on divorce, state data showed on Friday.

The 20-year-old Vietnamese bride was beaten and stabbed to death in her house in Busan on July 8, just eight days after arriving in Korea.

Her husband, now under arrest on murder charges, had a history of mental disorder, but the information had been withheld from the bride and her family.

Reflecting the unstable situation of interracial families here, more and more foreign wives are requesting government consultation on divorce.

In the first half of this year, 23,492 inquiries arrived at the state-run agency and 14.5 percent of them were related to divorce, according to data from the Emergency Support Center for Migrant Women.

The agency offers telephone referral services in eight languages and assists women in getting proper help.

The inquires mirrored a significant increase from same period last year as they grew nearly 40 percent, the center said.

“Inquiry calls do not always lead to divorce. But many women show a stronger determination than before,” said one official at the center.

The data was collected from the center‘s five offices across the nation.

According to the support center, the most frequent inquiries were those relating to marriage, such as how to handle conflict with their spouses and also divorce. Domestic violence also was a frequent subject of the phone consultations.

Foreign spouses were interested in daily information such as how they may access Korean language courses or how to use the bank, center officials said.
Foreign wives attend an education session on Korean culture organized by a local community.

Reflecting the current surge in foreign wives from Vietnam, most calls came from Vietnamese women -- who accounted for 40.4 percent, followed by Chinese women with 28.3 percent.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, nearly 130,000 foreign spouses were residing in Korea as of March this year. Around 90 percent were women and 80 percent of them originated from China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan.

Nearly 70,000 foreign wives have asked for help from the support center over the past three years.

Earlier this year, the government announced a variety of programs aimed at helping migrant women and their children.

Adding to the current five branches of the support center, new branches will be established in two provincial cities.

A specialized facility helping abused women and their children is scheduled to open in Seoul to offer them housing, job training and child care services.

In order to prevent possible conflicts, marriage agencies are also to be urged to offer cultural education and consultations to both foreign and Korean spouses.

On Friday, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan offered words of consolation for the death of the Vietnamese wife through Vietnamese Ambassador Tran Trong Toan. He also delivered 10 million won ($8,319) to express Seoul’s condolences, which was raised by employees at the ministry.