Vietnamese brides in Korea paid a visit to homeland

• Bringing art to people in public spaces
• Swedish Fika culture introduced in Vietnam
• The cheerful Golden Festival marks founding anniversary of ASEAN

Accordingly, 17 families with 58 members visited Hanoi and 26 other families with 96 people came to Ho Chi Minh City.

In particular, on August 25, all the families gathered in Hanoi for a welcome meeting, which was co-chaired by Chairwoman of the Korean Women Foundation Lee Hye Gyeong and Korean Ambassador to Vietnam Lee Huyk, and participated in by representatives of the Korean Cultural Center and the Vietnam Women’s Union.

43 Vietnamese - Korean families visiting Vietnam.

After that, the organizers held “Children and Parents” and “Family” programs to create a warm atmosphere for the participants, helping them deepen their relations.

At the meeting, Chairwoman of the Korean Women Foundation Lee Hye Gyeong stated that the program was one of the projects to support children of multicultural families to visit their mothers' home countries organized by the Korean Women Foundation and sponsored by the Social Life Insurance Commission, Samsung Life Insurance and the Social Welfare Association. 

"The main characters of this event are the children of Korean-Vietnamese families. I think that the visits to their mothers’ home towns or villages have provided chances to listen to Vietnamese language, enjoy traditional food and learn about culture and history of Vietnam, their mothers birthplaces", said Ms. Lee Hye Gyeong.

All the families gathering in Hanoi for a welcome meeting.

She also added that with the aim of building a peaceful world where people with different languages, races and religions can live and grow together, such a meaningful activity had been held over the years. 

Meanwhile, the project has been kick-started since 2007 with the name "Supporting married immigrant women to visit their home countries". Until 2013, its name has changed to the "Supporting children of multicultural families to visit their mothers' countries” project. This year-project has been the 11th providing opportunities for 327 families (1,196 people) in total.

According Korean Ambassador to Vietnam Lee Huyk, the program did not only support members of multicultural families to strengthen relations but also helped increase their pride of the cultures and traditions of Korea and Vietnam.

Vietnamese bride Tran Thi Huyen and her daughter.

Tran Thi Huyen (aged 35, from Hai Duong province) who now lives in Busan shared that: "This is the first time I have returned to my hometown after 6 years living in Korea. My husband and my daughter are very happy, especially my daughter likes playing with her grandparents and siblings very much.”

Over the past few days, Huyen's family visited tourist attractions in Hanoi and Quang Ninh such as Uncle Ho's Mausoleum, Hoan Kiem lake and Ha Long Bay. "My husband took a lot of photos and he hoped to come back to Vietnam as soon as possible," said Huyen.

According to statistics of the Korean Migration Office, the number of Vietnamese brides in Korea has reached 28% of the total foreign wives with Korean husbands and ranked second to the Chinese brides with 37%. Currently, there are about 152,000 Vietnamese-Korean couples.

At the end of June, the UCC organization of Korea in Vietnam (a joint labor-sharing consultancy group between multicultural enterprises) held a program named "Vietnam-Korea Meeting", helping 37 needy families of Vietnamese brides in Korea reunite with their families in Vietnam via teleconferences.