By Kim Cheong-won
Staff Reporter


Permanent residency status will be given to foreigners who have divorced their Korean husbands from next month if they have stayed for more than two years in the country, officials said Tuesday.

Cabinet ministers adopted a set of measures to help foreigners, especially foreign wives, during a meeting presided over by Health and Welfare Minister Kim Geun-tae.

``The measures are designed to improve the quality of living for foreign women who marry Koreans,’’ said an official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The scheme includes providing a free healthcare service for those not covered by the national health insurance system and who cannot afford medical fees.

The ministry also plans to offer counseling from October on request by foreigners’ communities. Information booklets containing an introduction to the health insurance system and other social benefits will be distributed in several languages such as Chinese and Japanese.

``There was a consensus among government ministries that pan-national measures should be set up to help foreign wives as international marriages by Korean men have surged over the past decade,’’ the ministry said.

According to the National Statistical Office, the number of foreign women who married Korean men soared from 619 in 1990 to 25,594 in 2004.

The total number of cross-border marriages in 2004 stood at 35,447, meaning that international marriages accounted for over 11 percent of all marriages in Korea last year.

Despite the surge, international marriages have caused problems for both husbands and wives.

``Foreign women who marry Korean men are supposed to obtain an identification guarantee from their husband to be protected on legal grounds,’’ Kim Min-jung, director of the Human Rights Solidarity for Women and Migration in Korea, said in a telephone interview with The Korea Times.

She pointed out that although the government will give permanent residency status to foreign wives even after divorce, the reality is different.

``Many Korean husbands intentionally abuse their wives’ unstable status by not guaranteeing their identification after getting married, and threatening to turn their wife in as an illegal immigrant,’’ she explained.

Foreign wives also suffer from financial difficulties. According to a recent survey conducted by the ministry, 52.9 percent of foreign wives living with Koreans live in poverty as they earn less than minimum wages. Only 11.3 percent of them benefit from the state welfare program.

kcw@koreatimes.co.kr