Manhunt on for Korean matchmaker

A Korean national suspected of being the leader of a mail-order bride syndicate victimizing Filipino women is now the subject of a manhunt by agents of the Bureau of Immigration.

Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo identified the Korean as Kevin Park. She ordered the arrest of the alien, saying he should be turned over to the law enforcement agencies once spotted trying to leave the country

Domingo said Park would be charged with violating the anti-mail-order bride law which prohibits the matching of Filipino women for marriage to foreign nationals.

She also said Park was identified by at least 11 of his victims as the one who facilitated their marriage to Korean nationals. This enabled them to go to Korea, where they ended up working as entertainers or sex workers in prostitution dens.

The women were recently rescued by authorities in Korea after word of their ordeal reached officials of the Philippine Embassy in Seoul which then sought the help of the Korean police.

Some of the women have complained that they were also victims of marital rape while others said they were beaten or locked up like prisoners by their Korean husbands.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the syndicate usually recruits its victims through paid advertisements in the tabloids that convince the women to marry rich Koreans who will be introduced to them.

One of the victims recounted that she was initially asked to produce her pictures and bio-data which were posted in the Internet.

She then waited for eight months before she got a call from the syndicate informing her of a "match" after which she was introduced to her prospective Korean husband.

She and the Korean were married at a Korean restaurant in Malate two days later. – Rey Arquiza