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Last year 645 out of 1,285 farmers and fishermen in the province married
foreign women. The percentage of men choosing foreign brides there has been
increasing steadily, from 31.7 percent in 2004 to 43.6 percent in 2005 to
50.2 percent this year.
In April the number of international marriages in North Gyeongsang Province
totaled 3,469. International couples accounted for a mere three percent of
all marriages in the province in 2001, but that figure has been increasing
every year, to 8.4 percent in 2004 to 11.3 percent in 2005.
In 2006, international marriages accounted for 12.8 percent or 2,070 of the
total 16,178 marriages in the province, a fourfold increase in five years.
The average age of the foreign brides is 32, for an age gap of 12 years with
their husbands, who are 44 years old on average. In particular, Vietnamese
and Cambodian women have an average age gap of 18 years with their Korean
husbands.
When asked the motivation for their international marriages, 32.1 percent of
the surveyed wives said they wanted to live in a better country. The women
said economic difficulties (45.4 percent) and communication barriers (26.6
percent) are the biggest hardships in their relationships.
"Foreign women who are married to Korean men are new members of our society
who need to be integrated, rather than be assimilated," said researcher
Chung. "We should provide policies to support them and build up a network
for them to play an initiative role in our society."who married last year chose foreign brides Source: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200712/200712030016
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