HANOI - A VIETNAMESE man and his wife were arrested in Ho Chi Minh City for running an illegal marriage brokerage for South Korean men looking for Vietnamese brides, state media reported on Monday.

Pham Van Thang and his wife, Truong Thi Thuy Diem, were arrested when police raided a house where they found more than 60 young women last Friday, the Vietnam News reported.

It said the police were looking for three South Korean men who had already left the house with their chosen brides.

The police could not immediately be reached for comment.

Thang and his wife gave three million dong (S$265) to the families of young women selected by the South Koreans, who paid between US$5,000 and US$6,000 for a wife, the newspaper said.

In recent years, the number of illegal marriage brokers has increased, drawing mostly on young women from Vietnam's poor southern Mekong delta.

The communist government said in January that Vietnam plans to set up an overseas marriage brokerage to regulate the sector, which is now run by illegal matchmakers accused of humiliating women and fuelling abuse.

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem ordered agencies to submit plans for Vietnam's first accredited international matchmaking service in Ho Chi Minh City by June, the government said. -- AFP