By Andrei Lankov
Writing a piece on the marriage habits of Koreans some years ago, I argued rather matter-of-factly: "Korean mainstream opinion does not look upon marriages with foreigners favorably." This was not mere extrapolation. Opinion polls administered regularly since at least the 1990s reveal that of all East Asian countries, including Japan, South Koreans were most reluctant to accept a foreigner as a son- or daughter-in-law.
However, Korea is a land of brisk change and transformation, where once-entrenched idiosyncrasies and impressions are prone to rapidly evolve or disappear entirely from decade to decade. Attitudes towards marriage with non-ethnic Koreans ― so-called "international marriages," in the local vernacular ― are no exception. In less than a generation, South Koreans have become much more open and likely to tie the knot with foreigners.
Beginning around 2000, the number of international marriages began to rise significantly. Three quarters of these marriages today (14,800 out of 20,600, to be precise) are between Korean grooms and foreign brides. Among these, Vietnamese are most numerous, 36 percent of the total. They are followed by Chinese (28 percent) and Filipinas (6 percent). The number of international marriages peaked at 29,000 in 2007 before leveling out and then slowly declining. Last year, some 20,600 Koreans registered their marriages with foreigners.
Though much more common today; international marriages are not exactly a new phenomenon in Korea. The earliest accounts date back to the 19th century and included several prominent figures in Korean society. Seo Jae-pil (Philip Jaisohn), the founder of Korea's first modern political party, and Syngman Rhee, the first ROK President, were both married to foreigners. Ditto Alexandra Kim-Stankevich, the first ethnic Korean communist organizer in Russia.
Beginning in 1945 the continuous presence of U.S. troops in Korea also ensured that a number of U.S. servicemen married Korean women ― indeed, the accumulative number of such marriages approached 90,000 according to some sources, though official statistics do not exist. However, most of these women joined their husbands in the United States, more or less severing their connection to the peninsula. Worse, these women were often stereotyped by the Korean mainstream, and such unions were often understood as something not to be discussed. (One can suspect more than a little bit of male chauvinism and nationalism behind such embarrassment).
But in more recent times demographics are the primary driver behind the rapid number of international marriages. Most men who enter such unions are middle-aged farmers from remote rural areas. Since at least the early 1990s these areas experienced a mass exodus of young eligible women, who were perusing better opportunities in the city. Men were and continue to be less mobile, rooted by patriarchal obligations to their ancestral villages.
The introduction of ultrasound exacerbated this gender imbalance, particularly in the more conservative rural areas where selective abortions were not uncommon. The sex ratio has mostly balanced out since then, but many men in their twenties and thirties still outnumber women in rural South Korea.
In the 1990s some local activists, with a measure of government support, tried to address the problem by encouraging Korean women to marry into these rural families. The campaign ended in failure: urban girls, even if their parents were farmers themselves, were reluctant to marry into conservative and, frankly, not so affluent, households. Thus, residents in these remote villages began to look overseas.
Ethnic Koreans from China were a natural starting point. Many of these women spoke Korean as their native language, knew how to operate in a traditional Korean household, and could be attracted by the much higher living standards in South Korea. In many cases such marriages worked well, but these women quickly earned a reputation for being independent and outspoken, two less-than-desirable traits for traditionally-minded Korean men.
It did not help that it is widely believed by many Koreans that Korean-Chinese women often leave their husbands once they have spent enough time in Korea to qualify for citizenship. Their language skills made sure they would have little problem adjusting by themselves. Hence, interests have shifted to Vietnamese women who, as conventional wisdom held, were less likely to leave their husbands at the first opportunity.
The influx of these women, along with a small but steady number of foreign men that have continued to marry Korean women, has changed the Korean society to a not-insignificant extent. It has become less uniform, more multicultural and, to an extent, multiracial ― and likely to stay as such for decades to come.
Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. Reach him at anlankov@yahoo.com.
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However, Korea is a land of brisk change and transformation, where once-entrenched idiosyncrasies and impressions are prone to rapidly evolve or disappear entirely from decade to decade. Attitudes towards marriage with non-ethnic Koreans ― so-called "international marriages," in the local vernacular ― are no exception. In less than a generation, South Koreans have become much more open and likely to tie the knot with foreigners.
Beginning around 2000, the number of international marriages began to rise significantly. Three quarters of these marriages today (14,800 out of 20,600, to be precise) are between Korean grooms and foreign brides. Among these, Vietnamese are most numerous, 36 percent of the total. They are followed by Chinese (28 percent) and Filipinas (6 percent). The number of international marriages peaked at 29,000 in 2007 before leveling out and then slowly declining. Last year, some 20,600 Koreans registered their marriages with foreigners.
Though much more common today; international marriages are not exactly a new phenomenon in Korea. The earliest accounts date back to the 19th century and included several prominent figures in Korean society. Seo Jae-pil (Philip Jaisohn), the founder of Korea's first modern political party, and Syngman Rhee, the first ROK President, were both married to foreigners. Ditto Alexandra Kim-Stankevich, the first ethnic Korean communist organizer in Russia.
Beginning in 1945 the continuous presence of U.S. troops in Korea also ensured that a number of U.S. servicemen married Korean women ― indeed, the accumulative number of such marriages approached 90,000 according to some sources, though official statistics do not exist. However, most of these women joined their husbands in the United States, more or less severing their connection to the peninsula. Worse, these women were often stereotyped by the Korean mainstream, and such unions were often understood as something not to be discussed. (One can suspect more than a little bit of male chauvinism and nationalism behind such embarrassment).
But in more recent times demographics are the primary driver behind the rapid number of international marriages. Most men who enter such unions are middle-aged farmers from remote rural areas. Since at least the early 1990s these areas experienced a mass exodus of young eligible women, who were perusing better opportunities in the city. Men were and continue to be less mobile, rooted by patriarchal obligations to their ancestral villages.
The introduction of ultrasound exacerbated this gender imbalance, particularly in the more conservative rural areas where selective abortions were not uncommon. The sex ratio has mostly balanced out since then, but many men in their twenties and thirties still outnumber women in rural South Korea.
In the 1990s some local activists, with a measure of government support, tried to address the problem by encouraging Korean women to marry into these rural families. The campaign ended in failure: urban girls, even if their parents were farmers themselves, were reluctant to marry into conservative and, frankly, not so affluent, households. Thus, residents in these remote villages began to look overseas.
Ethnic Koreans from China were a natural starting point. Many of these women spoke Korean as their native language, knew how to operate in a traditional Korean household, and could be attracted by the much higher living standards in South Korea. In many cases such marriages worked well, but these women quickly earned a reputation for being independent and outspoken, two less-than-desirable traits for traditionally-minded Korean men.
It did not help that it is widely believed by many Koreans that Korean-Chinese women often leave their husbands once they have spent enough time in Korea to qualify for citizenship. Their language skills made sure they would have little problem adjusting by themselves. Hence, interests have shifted to Vietnamese women who, as conventional wisdom held, were less likely to leave their husbands at the first opportunity.
The influx of these women, along with a small but steady number of foreign men that have continued to marry Korean women, has changed the Korean society to a not-insignificant extent. It has become less uniform, more multicultural and, to an extent, multiracial ― and likely to stay as such for decades to come.
Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. Reach him at anlankov@yahoo.com.
