By Kwak Yeon-soo, Park Si-soo
Nearly 73 percent of foreign women who married Korean men between 2014 and 2016 were Vietnamese, data showed on Wednesday.
The average age of Korean grooms at the time of marriage was 43.6, while that of their foreign brides was 25.2, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family data showed.
The grooms’ age was nearly 11 years more than the national first-marriage average age of men in 2017, 32.8, while the foreign brides’ age was five years younger than the nationwide average of 30.1.
The ministry releases data on international marriage annually and the latest report covers 2014 to 2016.
Cambodians made up the second-biggest portion of foreign wives (8.8 percent), followed by Chinese (7.6 percent) and Filipinas (3.7 percent).
By academic background, 54.8 percent of Korean grooms were high school graduates, followed by university diploma holders (6.1 percent) and middle school graduates (6.1 percent).
Among foreign spouses, those with high school diplomas accounted for 52.4 percent, followed by middle school diplomas (29.8 percent) and bachelor’s degrees (17.8 percent).
By average income, 41.1 percent of Korean grooms made 2-3 million won ($1,850-$2,760) a month, 20.4 percent (3-4 million won) and 15.8 percent (less than 2 million won).
It showed a majority of the Korean husbands were paid less than the 2017 national average of 3.29 million won.
The No. 1 reason for domestic conflict among couples was “communication difficulty.”