More than half of foreigners married to Koreans said they would not marry Koreans again if they were to separate with their spouses, a survey showed Monday.
The Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) reported that 52 percent of foreign nationals married to Koreans have no intention of marrying a Korean again if they were given a second chance.
The report is based on a survey of 100 foreign spouses living here in South Korea or abroad.
About 80 percent of the female respondents said they would not marry a Korean man for a second time, while 58 percent of males said they would marry a Korean woman again.
Lack of dialogue, excessive interference of in-law family members in household affairs, an indifference toward housework and coming home late were among the main complaints of foreign spouses.
“The general objection toward some aspects of Korea’s male-centered family culture seems to amplify in bicultural marriages, most obviously for women,” said Choi Jung-wha, a professor at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and president of the CICI.
Feel perfectly free to read the rest on your own.
26 Comments
Come on. You know the real reason why the marriages don’t work: Korean women’s inherently wild temper and the fact that the men are over-jealous stalker types.
Sounds like mostly foreign women were interviewed… “excessive interference of in-law family members in household affair” heh
Then again, Madame Choi could be talking about her own marriage here…
?€œexcessive interference of in-law family members in household affair?€?
That’s been one of my problems for me in the past (wife’s family). Where the wife listens more to her parents (and even her sister), rather than to me, the husband.
When you marry a Korean, you are also marrying his or her family as well. You really have to work at balancing out keeping her and her family happy but drawing a line somewhere so that you can have a life of your own too.
Please come on. How many married men would say that they’d marry their wives again? Am I the only person who often heard from men complaining, ?€œwomen are changed so much” after getting married or having kids?
But Kimbob made a good point. Family is a big deal in Korean marriage (one reason why I never tried to date Korean men!).
I’m with you, June. I wonder how many people would remarry their spouses regardless of nationality. North Americans have a divorce rate of 50%, and the divorce rate in Korea is rising. If it isn’t the in-laws, it’s money or something else that drives couples apart. The gender gap is interesting, though.
How many married men would say that they?€™d marry their wives again?
I guess I’m in the minority then because knowing what I know after 18 years of marriage, I’d gladly marry my wife all over again. Heh, I don’t kow if she’d say the same about me though
These polls are all lies. It is another attempt to keep “blood purity” by saying that foreign wives do not work out for Korean men.
I?€€stand with Nomad. I was once married to his wife, and I would do that all over again.
The Admiral has blogged.
Funny…I think if the US were to divorce Korea, we wouldn’t want to marry again if given the second chance, either.
Would I marry my wife again given the opportunity? Hmm?€? that is a good question. I think that I would but I am not so sure about what she would say. In my particular case, my wife?€™s family causes her more grief than they do me. I get along with them quite well. If my wife were to find herself under a dump truck tomorrow I would definitely consider marrying another Korean. For me the issue would be the lack of anger management that she (and I believe other Korean women) tend to have. I would argue that it is an issue that does not get the attention it needs and I suspect that it will have serious implications for the generation growing up. If you talk to people in their 50s and older they will tell you that their wives treat them like kings and will even take off their socks and put them on in the morning. I am not looking for that kind of treatment BUT you never hear of one of these women going after their husband with a knife or a frying pan-that just doesn?€™t happen. Of course they get mad and of course they say things their husbands don?€™t want to hear but I believe for the most part, that is where it stops. The gold digger attitude that I see more and more which is not something that is necessarily more prevalent here in Korea but I think it is becoming more common. I have seen numerous Koreans married to both foreigners and Koreans that have divorced their husbands based solely on the fact that their husbands were unable to put them in a new S class Mercedes and give them a $20,000 dollar/month shopping allowance at the department store along with the 50+ p?€™young apt in Kangnam plus other investment properties all the while still being 1000% faithful and family oriented taking time to help the kids study, taking the family on many overseas vacations to places like Paris and Rome. I will not deny those things are nice but what percentage of the population realistically enjoys that kind of lifestyle? Is it really such a bad thing if you do not?
I’m with Nomad and the others. I’d marry my wife again, and would certainly consider another Korean wife were I ever in the market for one.
It was interesting to note the different reporting of the same survey between the KT, and the Chosun.
http://english.chosun.com/w21d.....60012.html
Certainly two different ways of spinning the same material.
The poll didn’t ask whether the respondents would marry their particular spouses again, did it? It asked whether they would marry a _Korean_ spouse again. Get back on track.
That story in the Chosun Ilbo, Rowan, belongs in the same basket as the OP. I think in love marriages (not arranged) most people marry their spouses, regardless of nationality, for the same reasons. Dogbert is right that the original question is directed at foreign spouses of Koreans, but frankly, I’ve grown a little tired of the “what do foreigners think of us” obsession.
how far off track were we dogbert?
If my wife were to find herself under a dump truck tomorrow I would definitely consider marrying another Korean.
How eloquent.
Unfortunately with my wife?€™s lack of “anger management skills” I’m the one most likely to end up under a dump truck.
“anger management skills” is one way of spinning it. wacko is another.
six of one, half dozen of another.
Excuse me. Who cares? Why should I care about manipulated research?
Western research is predicated on the concept that the evidence should prove or disprove a premise. Korean research however, tends to seek evidence that justifies a premise. It procedes from a premise and looks for reasons why it must be true.
By now it should be abundantly obvious that most of the evidence we use to support an argument is some pretty far-fetched rationalization.
For example, MRI evidence showing chopsticks strengthens certain muscles in the hand has been submitted as proof that Koreans have superior dexterity and manual skills. The mere presence of a fan in a room at the time of death is generally accepted as proof that fans cause death. Research on Eastern medicinal cures invariably begins with the assumption that the treatment works, and then looks for chemical componants to justify why it works.
What this poll clearly demonstrates is an outmoded, patriarcial, xenophoebic, race-centric, backwards-looking view of reality. When we finally tire of producing daily surveys on peoples’ prejudices about foreigners, then Korea will have entered the 21st century. Unfortunately, that isn’t likely to happen until the 22nd century…
that isn?€™t likely to happen until the 22nd century?€?
I think you’re too optimistic.
As for the stupid question would I marry Korean again, if I had a chance to? The answer is no.
Are you divorced kimbob?
Worse, married, but going through the motions.
With been an American woman you can expect a few things:
1. She will get fat
2. When she is 30, she will look like she is 50
3. She will be “mature” enough to love you for your money, and yet still have the capacity to screw the retarded pool boy with the 15 inch cock
4. She will always believe in her beauty, even when her gut hangs over her min-skirt
With a Korean woman you can expect a few things:
1. She will find kim-chee, regardless of where she lives, like a wild hog hunting truffles
2. When she is 30, she will look like she is 19
3. She will always act like a toddler regardless of how long you have been together
4. She will never find her sexuality, if she does, she won’t let you know. Even after giving birth they don’t really know what a penis is.
I still say advantage Korean girl. They don’t turn into just another morbidly obese woman eating bon-bons.
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO CHANGE THE FLAG? I AM A YANK!!
I always laugh when some American or Canadian man complains about overweight North American women. After all, the obesity epidemic is not limited to one sex.
Just an aside. There are “Victims of Korean Wives” shirts available at the 3 Alley pub in Itaewon.
Did the survey ask how many people would get married again AT ALL? I’m thinking many would not…
Sonagi - Western women’s weigh-gain is largely done within 3 months of saying, “I do.” Sure, western men get fat all their life, but there’s no bait switch involved there.
Why would you cut off all Koreans simply because they are Korean?
Late to the fray; wanted to note that I know lots of guys who are so happy with their current Korean wives they have already started testing for future Korean wives.