By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
A billionaire is openly hunting a son-in-law through the Internet.
According to Sunoo, a matchmaking company, a 68-year-old man who owns land and buildings worth 100 billion won in the affluent Gangnam area in Seoul has recently consulted with the company about his daughter. The father, with only two girls, asked it to select a man who would marry his 38-year-old daughter and be taken into the family.
Following the request, Sunoo made public the woman's information and has been receiving applications from male members. More than 100 men applied for the ``once in a lifetime'' opportunity within two days of the advertisement being run.
The woman in question is a 38 year old Christian, of a ``a-level'' appearance and rather short height, according to Sunoo. After obtaining bachelor's and master's degrees at a college in the United States, she returned to Korea about two years ago and works as a professional in the art field.
The company said her yearly income is 60 million won and her own assets _ separate from her fathers' _ reach 2 billion won.
The requirements for the son-in-law are simple: he should be smart, healthy and ``good'' and should be of the same religion.
But there are more complicated sub-conditions _ the man needs to earn enough money in his own right so as not to have to rely on the woman's family; his parents should be in agreement with his decision; he should not be a first son or an only child who has to support his parents in the future; and he should have a similar level of work experience and education to the woman.
The company plans to select five men after receiving applications before June 15, and let the woman choose two of them to meet.
People are showing a range of responses to the advertisement.
``Is marriage a competition selecting a stallion for good racehorse? Or is marriage a competition for a good gladiator? I wonder what the woman and her parents, who degraded marriage to public bidding, are thinking,'' an Internet user with the ID ``moraeseong'' said on the portal Daum.
Another user identified as ``stoneisland'' said, ``What kind of smart, good, and healthy man who makes a great deal of money himself would want to be taken into such a family?''
But another user with the ID ``bbakkong'' said he did not think the idea was that bad, saying, ``It is natural for the father, who accumulated that much fortune during his life, to want to have a good and able son-in-law.''