Cambodia bans women from getting wed to South Korean men

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.

Koy Kuong, a Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman, said the ban, which was imposed this month, would remain in place while the government worked to ensure that South Korean men hoping to marry Cambodian women were able to prove first that they were single and did not have a prison record.

"We want to make sure that their marriages are real marriages, not fake, and not involved with human trafficking," Koy Kuong said.

In 2008, Cambodia temporarily banned marriages to foreigners after the International Organisation for Migration released a report that indicated marriage brokers were making profitable business from supplying poor Cambodian brides to South Korean men.

It was reported yesterday that nearly 60 per cent of marriages to foreigners in Cambodia involve Korean nationals, and most are arranged through brokers.

The latest ban comes after the conviction on 3 March of a Cambodian matchmaker who arranged marriages between South Korean men and 25 Cambodian brides.

Koy Kuong said he did not know how long the ban, which applies only to South Koreans, would last.

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.