The Marriage Migration Regime of Vietnamese Women in South Korea: Evolving Roles of Governments, Matchmakers, and Migrants

Abstract

Recent studies have clamored for measures to avoid the victimization of women in marriage migration. Thus, an important question entails how to consider marriage migrant women and their decision-making while acknowledging the current settings for international marriage between Vietnamese women and South Korean men. The present research establishes the following findings based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with Vietnamese marriage migrant women (including candidates) in South Korea and Vietnam. First, this study uncovers how governments, matchmakers, and migrants informally interact, form, and reform the marriage migration regime. In particular, this study focuses on how illegal marriage matchmakers take part in the regime and how they exploit marriage migrants owing to tightening immigration policies. Second, this study highlights the role of ethnic networks in the decision-making of marriage migrants. Thus, the discussion challenges the meaning of active governmental policies vis-à-vis the domination of illegal matchmakers. This study contributes to the literature on international migration by discussing the intermediate mechanism of marriage matchmakers and considering the agencies of marriage migrants.