perspectives on policies for multicultural families and marriage migrant
women which had been approached from the perspective of composition,
maintenance and reproduction of family. It should strive for the constitutional
value of establishment of marriage and maintenance of family life stipulated
in Article 36 Paragraph 1 of the Constitution be applied to migrants.
14-3. Policy for Returned Marriage Migrant Women and Children of
Multicultural Families Abroad
106. The nationality of marriage migrant women is in the order of China and Korea
(59,740, 47.6%), Vietnam (40,479, 31.5%) and Japan (11,892, 9.3%).14 Based
on 2016 statistics of the Statistics Korea, it is estimated that one out of five
Vietnamese marriage migrant women (about 19.25%) is experiencing family
dissolution and the number of divorces with minors accounts for 19% (3,183
cases) of the total divorce, leading to an assumption that at least 3,777 underaged Korean – Vietnamese children have experienced family dissolution.15
107. Among the Vietnamese women returning to their home country, a large
number of them returned immediately after family dissolution including
divorce (47.3) %; some after staying in Korea as undocumented migrants
(22.94%, including 9.68% of deportation); and others are refused or restricted
re-entry when they returned to Korea after meeting with families in their home
country (9.32%).
108. The problem is that from the early stages of marriage, their activities to adapt
to the Korean society including the visit to Multicultural Family Support
Center are restricted and they return to their home countries without ending
the marriage or receiving legal support through the Danuri Center, etc., and
forced to divorce without having the right to child custody. In addition, when
they return with their children with Korean nationality, children are
experiencing problems regarding legal status, education and health care
because their Korean fathers are out of contact or do not provide support.
109. Therefore, the government needs to provide an administrative and judicial
support system regarding divorce proceedings and child custody for returning
14
Report on Actual Status to Guarantee Stable Stay of Marriage Migrants by the NHRCK (2017),
p.18
15 Symposium on Opening of Legal Counselling Center on Korea-Vietnam Domestic Issues, Can Tho
Office in Vietnam, UN Human Rights Policy Center (25 Jan. 2018) 「Current Status and Support
Measures for Returning Vietnamese Women and Korean-Vietnamese Children」, p. 52
24