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[Medic]

Divorces soar among international couples






The number of divorces between international couples surged 30 percent to 11,255 last year, accounting for nearly 10 percent of marriage breakups in Korea.
Meanwhile, the total number of divorces dropped 6.1 percent to 116,500, the lowest level in 11 years, the National Statistical Office said.

Last year, 11,255 interracial couples got divorced, as the number of international marriages rose.

Nearly 83 percent of those couples divorced less than five years after their marriage - a sharp increase from 15.9 percent in 2002.

Marriages between Korean husbands and foreign wives had a higher divorce rate than those where the husband was foreign, indicating that marriages between Korean men in rural areas and women from other Asian countries are difficult to sustain.

More Chinese wives divorced their Korean spouses than those of any other country, with 5,398 cases, accounting for 67.8 percent of divorces among international couples. Vietnamese wives placed second with 1,078, followed by Filippinas with 268 and Japanese with 205.

Among foreign men who divorced their Korean spouses, Japanese husbands ranked No. 1, with 1,556 or 47.3 percent of total interracial divorces, followed by Chinese husbands with 1,041 and North American husbands with 238.

Most of the divorced international couples did not have children. Nearly 90 percent of divorces between Korean husbands and foriegn wives did not involve children, while 79.4 percent of divorces between Korean wives and foreign husbands did not involve children.

Meanwhile, the total number of divorces in Korea declined for a fifth consecutive year last year to 116,500, the lowest since 1998 when the country saw 116,300 divorces.

The fall came as the government in July last year started to require couples to have a cooling-off period before deciding to get divorced.

Nearly 1 percent of married couples broke up last year.

Divorces were most prevalent among men aged between 40 and 44 and women aged between 35 and 39.

Divorces among older couples continued to rise.

Men aged over 55 saw 13.7 percent more divorces in 2008 from the previous year, while women aged between 50 and 54 saw 17.7 percent more divorces during that period.

Accordingly, breakups among couples who had been together longer than 20 years accounted for 23.1 percent in 2008, up from 20.1 percent in 2007.

The average age of those getting divorced also inched up. The average age of men who filed for divorce was 44 years and 4 months, up from 43 years and 3 months a year earlier. The average divorce age for women rose 1 year to 40 years 6 months over the same period.

The most common reason for divorce was personality differences, with 47.8 percent, followed by economic problems with 14.2 percent. Adultery, family feuds, physical or mental abuse were also cited.

By Jin Hyun-joo


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[Jammer113]

Those statistics are rather meaningless without other important information like how many married couples there are now compared to before.

I doubt that 10 percent of marriages in Korea are international marriages, however. That puts the divorce rate pretty high.

[Ilsanman]

I guess Filipino ladies are getting sick of being beat up and abused by their alcoholic illiterate farmer husbands.

Oops...stereotypes, folks. Stereotypes.

[OiGirl]

Perhaps it's more that support systems are being set up to let foreign wives know what their rights are and how to get help.

[hamlet712]

I myself dont doubt that about 10 percent of marriages are interracial, among ALL races that are not Korean. This statistic seems about right for much of the globe, at least I think it does.

This stat is a stupid stat though, and quite meaningless. Divorce itself its at ( or maybe over) 50% because MANY couples are either too stupid to wait long enough to get married, don't adequately prepare for marriage, or are to weak to work through a marriage when times get hard.

There are legitimate number of cases where the spouses are getting beaten up, cheated or fall simply out of love with each other and can not continue, making divorce a last resort.

For many people this day and age though Divorce is the first resort and a marriage certificate is not worth the paper its printed on.

[justaguy]

As more people get married, more couples will like eachother, more will dislike eachother and more people will get divorced.

This is not rocket science.

[The Grumpy Senator]

[Goku]

There are many cases where international couples get married mostly on considerations to things other than "love". (Of course this isn't all cases but we can see many). This isn't suprising if you think about the premise of marriges between a lot of international couples.

Because of VISA priveleges, lonliness (in particular, rural Korean men), and pressures of getting married, a lot of international couples rush into it. I think can think of some Dave's posters that fit the shoe.

I think most of us are more interested in divorces concerning ESL teachers from the west (like us) and Korean spouses. I would like to see if the ESL teachers and Korean dynamic, what are the factors in divorce among those couples? Why did they divorce? Was it his/her fault? etc... Who had a harder time adjusting? the westerner or the Korean?

[Joe666]

Goku: I think most of us are more interested in divorces concerning ESL teachers from the west (like us) and Korean spouses. I would like to see if the ESL teachers and Korean dynamic, what are the factors in divorce among those couples? Why did they divorce? Was it his/her fault? etc... Who had a harder time adjusting? the westerner or the Korean?

I certainly would be interested in those stats. I just can't wrap my head around people getting married because of outside pressures like age or Mom and Dad said I have to. I see this as a complete recipe for disaster!

Goku asks: Who had a harder time adjusting? - My money is still on the westerner!

[Ilsanman]

Nope, no divorce for Mrs. Ilsanman.