By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

Can blood type determine character?

Medical experts assert the widespread belief here that blood type lends insight into character is scientifically ``groundless,'' but it seems to have become an important factor to consider by unmarried women in deciding whom they will date in the future.

Kim Hyun-jin, a 28-year-old career woman, recently had a blind date that eventually led her to become a vocal advocate of the credo defining characters in accordance with blood types.

``Before seeing him, a matchmaker gave me brief information about him including his blood type, B. As a person who had thought the theory groundless, I paid little attention to this,'' Kim said. ``After finding he was noticeably aggressive, self-centered and hot-tempered, I recollected his blood type. They were typical traits of men with that blood type well described in numerous articles on the Internet.''

``My former boyfriend's type was also B and he had had similar characters,'' she said. ``Since then I have believed blood type has something to do with character.''

Another woman Park Ah-ram said she even saw some women refusing to meet or stay with a certain blood type.

``What women pay attention to before a blind date were usually a partner's appearance, academic background and job. But blood type was recently added to the list, meaning blood type has emerged as a tool to know their partners' character in advance,'' Park said.

This is not an isolated case among sensitive women, but a prevailing phenomenon in Korean society.

A local matchmaking agency, Gayeon, recently conducted a survey on 539 unmarried people including 283 women and found that more than seven out of 10 women think a man's blood type is an important factor in selecting a date or getting married, much higher than 41 percent of male respondents.

The survey found that a man with AB blood was the most unwelcome person to date among women, followed by type B, A, and O. Male respondents ranked females with type B as the most undesired partner, followed by AB, A and O.

Meanwhile, those with O were commonly ranked first on both sides as the most favored blood type, followed by A.

Some scientific research has been conducted to find conclusive evidence of a connection between blood type and character ㅡ but all in vain.

Japanese scientist Takeji Furukawa assigned character traits to each blood group in 1972 as follows:

Type O: calm, patient, in control of their emotions, strong-willed, unyielding and full of self-confidence despite a quiet appearance.

Type A: reserved, mild-mannered, full of worry, indecisive, cautious, deeply moved by things, non-combative and self-sacrificing.

Type B: cheerful, independent, light-hearted, talkative, sensitive, sociable, caring and flamboyant.

Type AB: group B on the outside, but group A on the inside.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr