A joint wedding ceremony of multicultural couples takes place in Seoul on October, 2017. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent survey has confirmed that a growing number of South Koreans would consider tying the knot with an individual from another country.
The Seoul-based Overseas Koreans Foundation conducted a survey of 1,000 Koreans aged over 19 years old, 30 percent of whom showed interest in international marriage.
Roughly one third wanted to support the decision of a family member to wed a foreigner, while 36.9 percent said otherwise. Another 32.9 percent said it would depend on the situation.
Sorted by region, 69 percent of residents in Incheon were interested in international marriage, followed by Busan (41.9 percent) and Daejeon (41.2 percent).
People with an educational background higher than a master’s degree (50 percent) or a bachelor’s degree (32.5 percent) were most interested in international marriage.
In addition, those who earned 4-6 million won (US$3,440-5,150) (32.3 percent) or those earning more than 6 million won (35.1 percent) were more likely to be interested in international marriage than other income groups.
Respondents preferred Americans and Canadians (66.6 percent) as potential partners, followed by Europeans (41.3 percent), Asians (13.7 percent) and Japanese (12.8 percent).
Data from a similar survey conducted in 2017 showed that 34.3 percent were interested in international marriage, on par with the results reported this year.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
