The 47-year-old man, identified only by his last name, Jang, was convicted of beating his 19-yearold wife, Huynh Mai, to death.

They were introduced through an international marriage broker in December 2006 and later got married.

Mai, from the Mekong Delta’s Kien Giang Province, went to live with her husband in South Korea in May last year.

The couple could not overcome the language barrier and just a month after arriving in South Korea, Mai packed her bags to return home.

But before she could leave she was beaten to death by her drunken husband.

Her body was found on July 4, eight days after her murder, in the basement of their house.

An autopsy revealed 18 broken ribs.

After killing her, Jang fled to South Korea’s central region.

He was apprehended on August 5 after he called home.

“The lack of care from her husband, his financial difficulties and problems with language prevented her from realizing her dream [of a lovely marriage]… Her attempt to return home gave Jang the mistaken impression that he had been duped,” the Hankyoreh newspaper quoted the ruling as saying.

“Upon discovering the inappropriate way in which Jang met the Vietnamese girl in the Southeast Asian country, we have no choice but to feel ashamed,” the court said.

“No one told Jang who his bride would be nor what her expectations would be and Jang himself did not make any effort to find out … We cannot blame Jang alone. This is something that was caused by the immaturity in our society, by which foreign women are regarded as objects that can be imported.”

Kim Sang-jun, the chief justice in this case, said he hoped the case would not cause Vietnamese people to have a poor image of South Korea.

He said the court had tried to contact Mai’s family but apparently neither the marriage broker nor any of the related agencies knew their whereabouts.

“We wanted to seek forgiveness from the victim’s family for the brutality in our society. It is regrettable that we’ve had to make the ruling without informing her family.”

Thanh Nien Thursday managed to speak to Mai’s father, Huynh Sau, by phone.

He said he had tried to contact the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea for information about the trial without success.

Recent South Korean statistics show that up to 20,523 Vietnamese women have married South Korean men, the second highest proportion of foreign brides in the country.

Many of them, however, find themselves alienated due to language barriers and a lack of cultural understanding.

The deaths of several Vietnamese wives last year and earlier this year in South Korea as a result of their husbands’ mistreatment have infuriated the public and led the two governments to make plans to protect and support Vietnamese women.

The mother of a Vietnamese woman who leapt to her death from the 14th floor of an apartment building in Kyongsan City in February is now in South Korea seeking a fresh investigation into her daughter’s death.

Reported by Quang Thi