Lee Kwang Hi links Vietnamese brides and Korean grooms

With his newly-established charity organisation, “For the beautiful life”, whose name is also his living philosophy, Mr. Lee Kwang Hi has given great assistance to Vietnamese brides in the Republic of Korea.

Mr. Lee and the organisation’s volunteers in Chong Buk, the Republic of Korea visited Vietnam late last February. During their stay in Hanoi, they took a tour around President Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and the Temple of Literature. They all were very happy to see a lot of similarities between Vietnamese and Korean culture.

Mr. Lee confided, that now he could tell any Vietnamese bride in Korea that he has visited Vietnam and it was very nice

Bridging two countries

The 70-year-old-man said there are 1,500 Korean-Vietnamese families in Chong Buk Province, nearly 300km from the Capital City of Seoul among about 3,000 multicultural families there.

The most common thing in multicultural families is that the foreign wives could not speak the husbands’ mother tongue, neither could husbands speak the language of the wife. As a result, these couples face difficulties in communication with each other.

“Foreign brides do not know much about the culture and family life in the Republic of Korea”, said Mr. Lee.

That is the reason why “For the beautiful life” organisation, with as many as 600,000 members, was founded 6 years ago”.

As the organisation’s chairman, Mr. Lee and his friends set up support centres in 14 districts of Chong Buk Province centers to help these multicultural families. These centers help foreign brides to study Korean language, learn about the Korean family’s identity and Korean dishes. They are also assisted in finding suitable jobs.

Meanwhile, Korean husbands are also encouraged to learn the language and culture of the wives but some are quite lazy.

Since 2008, with part of the budget extracted from members’ donations, the organisation has taken brides’ parents to the Republic of Korea for eye-witnessing their children’ life. Four trips, each worth US $43,000, have been conducted by the organisation so far.

“I was moved when I saw Vietnamese brides’ parents meeting with their children and grandchildren”, confided Han Jang Hoon, a Korean volunteer.

Joining effort for a better life!

Much has been talked about the age gap between Korean grooms and their foreign brides. Before coming to the Republic of Korea, these girls knew very little about Korean culture and family life. Many have thought of the lives reflected in movies. In fact, Korean rural areas are facing various difficulties. Happy multicultural families can be established on the basis of mutual understanding and joint efforts of both husbands and wives. We are going to hold a get-together for happy families whose husbands could communicate in Vietnamese language. That is a good way to encourage those sons-in-law to study Vietnamese more”, wittily said Mr. Lee.

Mr. Lee recommended that Vietnamese brides should acquire a good knowledge of the Republic of Korea and vice versa. In turn, their children would know more about the culture of the two countries as well.

Later this year, Mr. Lee will quit the role as the organisation’s chairman. However, what he has been doing for Vietnamese brides and Korean grooms will be remembered forever.

Mr. Lee shared that he was very happy as Vietnamese brides were very industrious and intelligent. The divorce rate in Korean-Vietnamese families makes up a small proportion in multicultural families in the Republic of Korea.

Mr. Lee is very sympathetic with the parents whose daughter is to marry the far-away husband. As a father, I will be committed to working hard together with other people to build a bridge for these foreign brides. Let’s join efforts together!”, shared Mr. Lee.

Source: TT