Divorces filed by international couples in Korea grew nearly 5 percent last year, data showed Thursday, possibly leaving many of their children vulnerable to poor parental care and education.
According to the data by Statistics Korea, a total of 14,319 couples with different nationality, racial and cultural backgrounds filed for divorce last year, up 4.9 percent from a year earlier.
This accounted for 12.3 percent of the total divorce cases last year, marking the second consecutive on-year increase since 2008 when the ratio stood at 10.7 percent, the data showed.
Of those who ended their marriage, 15.9 percent had children who had yet to come of age. Their average divorce age stood at 46.9 years old for males and 37.8 years for females.
The data also showed that such international couples here filed for divorce after an average of 4.7 years of marriage. About 60 percent of them separated after less than five years.
For women, Chinese females made up the largest portion of divorcees at 53.6 percent, followed by Koreans at 21.9 percent and Vietnamese at 12.1 percent, according to the data.
For men, Koreans took up the largest share at 73.6 percent, followed by Japanese at 11.5 percent and Chinese at 10.6 percent.
Meanwhile, 35,098 interracial couples tied the knot last year, up 3.7 percent from a year earlier. The number of babies born to such couples also grew 6.8 percent to 20,312 over the same period, according to the data. (Yonhap)
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