By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

A crackdown will start on interracial marriage matchmaking agencies that produce deceptive advertising material or violate local laws.

The agencies must be registered and have properly trained staff who know the facts about interracial marriages and ethics to be eligible to do business. Illegal agencies will have their registration revoked or face fines, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said Tuesday.

Yang Seung-ju, director general of family policy, said illegal or unauthorized matchmaking agencies distorting information about possible spouses or married life in Korea have been a headache for the government.

``We expect the stricter rules will upgrade the reliability of these agencies and interracial marriages to Koreans,'' she added.

The registration rule is part of a government plan to provide tailor-made services for foreign spouses in Korea. The government has already dispatched two officials to the Philippines and Vietnam to provide information to citizens there wishing to marry Koreans. Next year, officials will be posted to Cambodia and Mongolia.

Eighty government-administered Interracial Marriage & Family-Support Centers nationwide will give assistance to foreign spouses here. Korean language, culture including structure and other aspects of family life will be taught, and 960 visiting instructors will give orientation to interracial marriage seekers.

The center will also be open to Korean spouses. Before their wedding, Korean spouses-to-be will be educated on their counterparts' culture and ways of avoiding domestic violence. The number of centers will be increased to 140 by 2010.

Teaching Languages in Schools

From this year, foreign spouses will get training to teach foreign languages or culture in schools. They will also be educated in agricultural skills or interpreting so that finding a job will be easier.

The government plans to train 126 people living in 11 provincial towns and areas to teach culture at nurseries or elementary schools. It added that another 240 will become assistant English instructors in rural classrooms.

The administration also plans to educate spouses in agricultural techniques, computing and other occupational skills needed to get a job or participate in a family business. Thousands of foreign spouses are expected to benefit from these programs, Park Nan-suk, a ministry official, said.

The plan, expected to come into effect from June 15, was devised because 11.1 percent of marriages in Korea were interracial.

Most of them were between Korean men and foreign women, the majority of whom are from Southeast Asian countries, China and Mongolia. For people working in the fisheries or agricultural fields, the interracial marriage rate has now reached 40 percent.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr