Quote: (04-29-2012 10:32 PM)cybermutiny Wrote:
Quote: (04-29-2012 06:47 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:
I wonder what the divorce rate is in Korea. They are a really tight knit community. I'm sure divorce is still considered shameful there unlike the US.
I'm sure UgSlayer knows more than me on this one because he has family ties here (whereas I'm just some anonymous white dude). It's definitely the case that divorce is shamed here. However, just because there is a prison sentence for infidelity doesn't mean that it isn't "allowed." As you will see if you visit South Korea, certain things are against the law yet still widely practiced. For instance, prostitution is against the law yet you need only walk to a backstreet behind most major train stations to find blatant "pink light" districts. Likewise, I've heard many a story about infidelity in Korea. Hearsay perhaps, but a few Koreans told me there is a gigantic park east of Seoul proper that is supposed to be THE spot for older couples to meet their secret lovers.
100% true. People cheat all the time, but the point I was trying to make was that if a guy's wife cheats on him, he has the option to press charges. I found a fairly recent article from the economist. I'm not sure if no-fault divorce exists or what a woman is legally entitled to if she divorces a man who makes more than she does.
Quote:Quote:
But marriages are breaking down, too. In Hong Kong and Japan, the general divorce rate—the number of divorces per 1,000 people aged 15 or more—was about 2.5 in the mid-2000s, according to Mr Jones’s calculations. In Asia as a whole, the rate is about 2 per 1,000. That compares with 3.7 in America, 3.4 in Britain, 3.1 in France and 2.8 in Germany. Only in one or two Asian countries is divorce as widespread as in the West. The South Korean rate, for example, is 3.5. Because divorce has been common in the West for decades, more couples there have split up. The rise in Asia has been recent: China’s divorce rate took off in the early 2000s. In the 1980s the Asian rate was 1 per 1,000 people; now it is 2. If that rise continues, Asian divorce could one day be as common as in Europe.
http://www.economist.com/node/21526329
Divorce rates are pretty high. What interested me was the part at the end that discussed international marriages, so I looked up a bit more.
Via wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_South_Korea
"International marriage" (국제결혼) has grown rapidly in South Korea since the late 1990s, and is especially common in rural farming communities. Most brides come from China, followed by Vietnam.[5] In addition, a smaller number of South Korean women marry foreign husbands; with husbands from China also leading in this category, followed by Japan.[6] In 2005, there were 31,180 marriages between South Korean men and non-Korean women; there were 11,941 marriages between South Korean women and non-Korean men. Together, these account for more than 10% of the total number of marriages in 2005: 316,375.[7] In Yeongju, a local Korean man has been featured on Korean television as "antenna man" for providing satellite TV access to immigrant women who married and moved to the rural countryside.[8]
A Kosian or Onnurian is a person of mixed Korean father and other Asian mother, or a family which mixes Korean and other Asian cultures.[9] The term, Kosian was first coined in 1997 by intercultural families to refer to themselves,.[10][11] The term is most commonly applied to children of a South Korean father and a Southeast Asian mother; its use spread in the early 2000s as international marriages became more common in rural areas.[11]
The term "Kosian" is considered offensive by some who prefer to identify themselves or their children as Korean,[12][13] Mixed-race Koreans have asked the media to refrain from using 'Kosian'.[14] Moreover, the Korean office of Amnesty International has claimed that the word "Kosian" represents racial discrimination.[15]
Although such children currently make up only 0.5% of children born in South Korea, some projections suggest that this will grow to 30% by 2020. This trend is partly due to the low birthrate in South Korea, and partly to rising rates of international marriage.
According to Pearl S. Buck International, there are approximately 30,000 mixed-race children in South Korea.[16] Mixed-race children often face discrimination.[17]