"Government support for mail-order brides" - South Korea

[GreenPartyVoter]

SEOUL (Reuters) - A rural province in South Korea plans to give financial aid to help lonely male farmers pay for mail-order brides from overseas.

South Kyongsang province plans to start a trial program in which it will give 6 million won ($6,113) to male farmers who marry foreign women, an official said Tuesday.

South Korean farmers have been turning to brides from other parts of Asia in recent years after struggling to woo local women, who are often less than enthralled with the prospect of rural life.

"Young men in the countryside have a hard time finding brides and they started to look elsewhere," said Ryu Kum-ju, an agricultural policy official for the province, located in the southern part of the country.

http://reuters.iwon.com/article/20060124/2006-01-24T165747Z_01_SEO153042_RTRIDST_0_ODD-KOREA-MARRIAGE-DC.html

[bluestateguy]

1. So?

South Korea already has a strong welfare state. As long as this program does not come at the expense of other social welfare programs, and as long as the program is run ethically I have no problem with this.