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Increasing number of South Koreans marrying foreigners

More and more South Koreans are marrying foreigners due to a shortage of local brides and a change in Koreans' attitudes, according to government figures released yesterday.

The statistics showed the number of marriages to foreigners jumped 21.6 percent to 43,121 last year compared with 2004.

Out of every 100 newlywed couples, 13.6 couples were married to foreigners, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO).

Changing perceptions

Yang Mi-soon, a senior researcher at the Rural Resource Development Institute, said international marriages are on the increase due to a shortage of Korean brides and a change in South Koreans' perceptions of foreigners.

As of the end of 2000, there were 105 Korean men for 100 women, she said.

The NSO said 72 percent of international marriages involved Korean men and foreign women. Chinese brides topped the list at 66.2 percent, followed by Vietnamese with 18.7 percent and Japanese with 4.0 percent.

The number of weddings with Vietnamese women jumped by 136.5 percent to 5,822 last year, the NSO said, compared to a mere 95 in 2000.

Marriages between foreign women and Koreans engaged in farming, fishing or forestry rose from 1,814 in 2004 to 2,885 last year, the NSO said.

This means that out of every 1,000 Korean farmers who married last year, 359 married foreign women compared with 274 the previous year, it said.

Yang said that because of the country's economic strength, increasing numbers of women in other Asian countries tend to develop "illusions about South Korea and they are willing to marry Koreans for their Korean Dream."

"Koreans' conservative perceptions about foreigners has also been changing as there are growing numbers of exchanges with other countries and many Koreans travel or study abroad," she said.

She warned, however, that foreign brides often face serious problems adapting to a new life in a country with a different culture and atmosphere.

Sacrifices

Aside from cultural differences and language barriers, foreign women feel heavily burdened because of the sacrifices and role expected of them as a wife, mother and daughter-in-law in a traditionally Confucian society, she said.

"There were even some cases in which foreign brides were subjected to violence by their spouses. They either flee to shelters for them or return home," Yang said.

After stories about Filipinas who fled from their violence-prone Korean husbands became known in the Philippines, professional agents found it increasingly difficult to find prospective brides there.

"Then they turned to Vietnam. That's why the number of Vietnamese brides has been increasing so fast over the past few years," Yang said.
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