A joint wedding ceremony of multicultural couples takes place in Seoul on March 5, 2013. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 21 (Korea Bizwire) — The vast majority of South Koreans believe that the country has already entered the era of a multicultural society, while the younger generation believes that they can marry anyone regardless of ethnicity, a poll showed Wednesday.
Market researcher Embrain Trend Monitor conducted a survey of 1,000 men and women between the ages of 19 and 59, 80.4 percent of whom believed that South Korea is already a multicultural society.
At 69.8 percent, more than two-thirds of the respondents said they had increasingly experienced engaging with a multicultural family, up by 10 percentage points from 2017.
Half of the respondents percent had increasingly engaged with multicultural families or foreigners at work or school, up from 46.4 percent.
More than three-quarters of the respondents believed that South Korea will become a multicultural nation in the near future, and a similar proportion believed that they can marry anyone, regardless of ethnicity, as long as they’re in love, up from 65.4 percent in 2017.
These beliefs were stronger among younger generations, with 81.6 percent of South Koreans in their 20s sharing these beliefs, as well as those in their 30s (79.6 percent), 40s (71.6 percent), and 50s (70 percent).
There were also concerns about the rise of a multicultural society.
At 38.8 percent, more than a third of the respondents were fearful of ‘obstruction in social integration and cultural strife’, while 36.7 percent were concerned about the ‘rise of stereotypes and discrimination in society’.
The belief that ‘multicultural families are socially vulnerable and need to be protected’ dropped from 52 percent in 2017 to 38.9 percent in 2022.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
