Matchmaking firms grow amid changing socioeconomic landscape

By Lee Sung-yeon
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's matchmaking agencies have grown in
recent years on the back of changes in the socioeconomic landscape and advances
in information technology, despite the criticism here that they promote
materialism.

Duo, one of South Korea's leading matchmaking firms, says its membership has
grown steadily by 10 percent annually since 2004, signing 1,600 new members in
2008 alone. Sales for the company peaked at 17.8 billion won (US$14,554,000)
that same year, compared to 12 billion won in 2004.
Duo's consulting and management director, Hyeong Nam-kyu, says the company
brought together some 10,000 people in marriage between 2000 and 2005, and that
for the next four years the number reached nearly 9,000. Duo says that between
2006-2010 they expect the figure will top 11,000.
But despite the growth, Hyeong says it is impossible to please everyone.
"Because we are dealing with 'people' and not 'things'," says Hyeong, "it is
impossible to satisfy everyone's needs. That is one of the toughest obstacles
and one of the reasons the matchmaking business faces prejudice and
misunderstanding among clients and some parts of society."
As an example, he recalls a young male client who accused the firm of paying a
prospective partner to go out on a couple of dates before "dumping him."
Such mistrust harkens back to the negative stereotypes that surrounded the
industry in its early years, when matchmaking firms were criticized for such
practices as charging excessive fees when clients attempted to end their
membership, citing "damages for breach of contract."
Duo and other firms draw their revenue from annual membership fees, which can
vary according to a client's preferences, including the occupation and income of
possible matches.
Sunoo, another leading matchmaking firm, says its membership spiked from 8,400
people in 2006 to 24,900 in 2008, adding that a majority of the new members are
female.
Company CEO Lee Woong-jin says when Sunoo was first started 19 years ago, "we
had to make efforts to recruit female clients, so females were exempted from the
annual membership fees. Now, the tables have turned."
While the increase in female membership has contributed to the growth of the
matchmaking industry, the trend also suggests that the traditionally negative
perception women had towards such agencies may be changing.
According to Sunoo, the number of its female members increased 3.9 percent to
15,800 in 2008 from two years earlier, and it expects the number to continue to
grow.
Lee says that in the 1990s some 60-70 percent of its total members were male,
but that since then the number of female members has steadily increased,
surpassing male membership in the early part of this decade.
Shin Kwang-yeong, a professor of sociology at Seoul's Chung-ang University, says
matchmaking firms are promoting the notion of marriage as similar to finding
employment.
"These firms seem to be taking advantage of a current socioeconomic trend known
as 'employ-age', which combines the terms employment and marriage," he says.
"Some women regard marriage as a type of employment, and the current economic
crisis and tight job market prompts highly-educated females to pursue early
marriage instead of a career."
A critic of the matchmaking industry, Shin says the agencies also promote
materialistic values within society, as clients tend to prioritize income levels
over all other prerequisites. "Most women prefer to meet only men who have a
high income level."
In response to such criticism, matchmaking firms have been making efforts to
include other factors in their services. Thanks to advances in information
technology, preferences beyond income levels can now easily be factored in so
that firms can more accurately locate prospective matches for clients.
Duo employs software developed in conjunction with a team from Seoul National
University headed by Professor Choi In-chul of the Human Life Institute that can
locate an ideal match for members on the basis of 160 pre-set qualifications.
Sunoo, which currently holds four patents on matchmaking software, said that its
system was able to match some 514 people in just two hours, 312 of whom later
met for a second date. Lee says that prior to these technologies, it usually
took 15 days to match the same number of people.
He added that in addition to income levels, other factors including physical
appearance, number of family members and personality traits can be calculated
within its "index." "Then, the computer will find the ideal person for a
particular client."
syeonl@yna.co.kr
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