More S. Koreans opt for foreign spouse when remarrying

SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Yonhap) -- More South Koreans opted to wed foreign spouses when
they marry for the second time, a state statistical office said Friday.

The Statistics Korea said the number of South Korean men who married foreign
women in their second marriage shot up nearly six fold to 9,930 cases in 2008
from 1,708 cases in 2000.
"Figures for 2008 represent more than 35 percent of all marriages between a
Korean man and a foreign woman," the agency said
It said the number of local women marrying foreign husbands, after a divorce or
death of the first spouse, rose 41.5 percent from eight years earlier to 3,337
last year.
The overall number of South Korean men marrying foreign women jumped 4.1 times
from 6,945 cases to 28,163 in the cited period, while those for local women
marrying non-Korean men jumped 72.6 percent from 4,660 to 8,041.
The statistical office, meanwhile, said there was a noticeable difference in the
nationalities of spouses chosen by men and women.
Close to 60 percent of all Korean men married Chinese brides in their second
marriage followed by women from Vietnam and the Philippines.
Korean women picked Japanese, Chinese and U.S. citizens for their mates when they
married again, with international marriages between a South Korean woman and a
Japanese man accounting for 40.9 percent of the total.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)