Lee Woong-jin, CEO of matchmaking firm Sunoo, plans to expand its business with tailor-made multilingual services, targeting the United States, China and Southeast Asian countries as new markets. / Courtesy of Sunoo

Sunoo Seeks to Expand Services to US, China, Southeast Asian Nations

By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

Many singles are turning to matchmaking Web sites to find spouses. More than 20,000 people found their life-long mates this way paved by Sunoo, a leading domestic matchmaking company, over the past two decades.

Sunoo is now gearing up to expand its business beyond borders with tailor-made multilingual services, targeting the United States, China and Southeast Asian countries as new markets.

"I ultimately dream of love that has no borders. And I believe I can make it come true in my generation," Lee Woong-jin, CEO of matchmaking firm Sunoo (www.couple.net), said in an interview with The Korea Times. "It may be hard to imagine these days that a man and woman living in different countries that are hundreds of thousands of miles away from each other have an opportunity to see whether they suit each other to become his or her spouse. But the geographical distance will not come as a hurdle to love in the future."

Sunoo has run an English Web site for years. It plans to make a Chinese Web site available in July. The company has run two overseas bureaus in Los Angeles and New York for five years. It recently opened another bureau in Singapore.

"About 100 couples have tied the knot in the U.S. via our company," the 45-year-old matchmaker said. He added he has a plan of extending the realm of business to European countries and even African states in the years to come.

Lee has been recently granted a permanent residence card in the U.S., registering his name as James Lee. "This was to help our clients outside Korea feel more familiar with me and discard any preconception about the business based on their racial bias," he said.

A lower-than-average divorce rate among couples matched by the company is the most appealing point to clients.

"Only about 200 out of 20,000 couples we matched or 1 percent of them have divorced since we started providing matchmaking services two decades ago," he said.

The divorce rate here has been soaring in recent years. Nearly six out of 100 couples divorced between 2006 and 2008 according to the latest figures released by the state statistics office last year.

The CEO attributes the low divorce rate to the company's scientific matching system built upon five patent-winning technologies.

"Once you fill in the multilayer form to register with the Web site, our search system automatically list the best candidates for marriage after cross checking personality, wealth, career, income, religion, academic and family backgrounds of each other," Lee said. "Now, marriage is all about science."

He cited family background as one of the most important factors to consider in selecting spouse.

"Unlike Asian countries, including Korea, most people in Western countries pay little attention to family background. But it should be put on the first line of a check list in order to maintain a smooth marriage," he said, citing the latest study by a research center associated with the company.

"It's sorry to say there is no Cinderella story in reality. The ideal match is a man and woman who grew up under similar family conditions in wealth and social status," he confidently said. "I will try to add this very Asian value to the Western marriage concept."

pss@koreatimes.co.kr