Over the years, divorce laws that discriminated against women were also changed, Kwak said. But the surge in divorce in the 1990s, she said, came as women became better educated and more of them held jobs. Now women are more likely to feel that they are entitled to seek personal happiness, she said. The majority of divorces are initiated by women, and personality conflict is the reason cited most often.
"Men found the political and economic changes difficult to adapt to, but they thought that the family would at least stay the same," Kwak said. "But the fact is that of all the institutions in Korean society, the family may be the one that has undergone the biggest change."
Lee Ji-yong, 38, a civil engineer who earned his master's degree in the US, married about a decade ago. His wife, a flight attendant with Northwest Airlines, chose to keep working after marrying. They have two daughters.
"There was a conflict from the start," Lee said. "After work, I wanted her in the house, with her apron, preparing a hot meal for me. But she wanted her career."
His wife asked for a divorce, Lee said, and after consulting with his parents, he agreed. After their divorce last year, Lee joined Sunoo's remarriage section and became engaged to a divorced woman.
Yoo Hae-ok, 44, said she never expected to remarry after divorcing her husband 10 years ago, especially as a single mother of two boys. But with her children now in college, Yoo, who has been working as a remarriage adviser for a matchmaking service called Piery for the last five years, married a divorced man last year and is happy.
Yet she is aware that society still looks askance at divorced women, often labeling them promiscuous or heavy drinkers.
"I'm very cautious about the way I behave at social gatherings," Yoo said. "If I make a mistake, people will say that's why I was divorced."
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