S. Korea ruling party to expel county head over controversial remarks on importing brides from Sri Lanka

The Democratic Party (DP) of South Korea announced on Monday that it will remove the head of Jindo County due to his controversial statements about “importing” women to address population issues. The DP's Supreme Council unanimously agreed to expel Kim Hee-su, the county chief of Jindo in South Jeolla Province, following his offensive comments, as reported by DP spokesperson Park Soo-hyun. This decision came five days after Kim suggested during a televised town hall meeting in South Jeolla that young women from Vietnam and Sri Lanka could be “imported” to marry young men in rural areas, sparking public anger. Kim apologized the next day, claiming his words were meant to draw attention to serious problems in rural areas, such as a significant drop in population and declining marriage rates, and to emphasize the importance of merging South Jeolla Province with Gwangju. In reaction, the Vietnamese Embassy in Seoul sent a letter to the province to express their disapproval of Kim’s comments. South Jeolla Province has since apologized to the Vietnamese Embassy, the Vietnamese government, and the Vietnamese people, especially the women who felt “deeply hurt” by Kim’s “inappropriate remarks.”