Eight days after moving to South Korea from Vietnam to marry a man she met through a matchmaking agency, 20-year-old Thi Hoang Ngoc was dead, the Los Angeles Times reports.
She was beaten and stabbed to death by her 47-year-old husband who told police that "voices" ordered him to kill his young bride. She was not told about his mental illness, police said.
But her death in early July has drawn attention to the growing trend of South Korean men looking overseas for brides and the lack of protection provided for the women who marry them in hopes of a better life.
President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea has promised that the government will take action to better support multicultural families.
South Korean police also announced that they would begin investigating matchmaking agencies suspected of operating illegally. And, starting in August, new requirements for South Koreans seeking to bring foreign wives into the country will take effect, government officials said.
Thanks to Terry Reis Kennedy for this story.
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