Korean Language Test Lowers Number of Foreign Brides

It looks like the program is working as intended:

The Justice Ministry tightened visa standards in April last year for foreign women who marry Korean men and started requiring them to pass Korean language tests to obtain visas to come here. The aim was to stem the chronic marital strife resulting from communication problems that has led to many of migrant wives seeking refuge in shelters.

But a lack of educational institutions abroad teaching the language is making it tough for women from abroad to join their Korean husbands here.

According to the Korean Embassy in Vietnam, the number of visas granted to Vietnamese brides fell from 5,708 in 2013 to 2,967 in 2014.

Justice Ministry data also show that the overall number of foreign brides who entered Korea fell from 98,965 to 98,364 over the same period.

In January and February, the number fell nine percent on-year to 17,522.

Now some critics say the rules are unfair to bona-fide married women who already have marriage licenses. One man in the southern port city of Busan killed the owner of a matchmaking company after his new wife was unable to enter Korea because she kept failing her language test.

Lee Soo-han at the South Gyeongsang Province chapter of Women Migrants Human Rights Center said, “The aim of the revised regulations is reasonable, but the problem is that the rules are too strict since brides who fail the test have to wait six months to take the next exam.”  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but could you imagine the claims of racism that would be made if such a language test was required in the US?