Interesting comments about divorce in Korea by K-female

Posted: 2005/01/27  By: timothy collins (Views:2994)

I'm online chatting with a Korean female friend. We used to date, but stopped because we had no
*spark*, but remained friends. We often chat online about different people we date, etc.

Yesterday we started chatting about the whole ES issue, and she went off on a tangent about
divorce in Korea. She said that there was a story out last weekend about the rapidly rising
numbers of people seeking divorce in Korea... wish I could remember the stats she quoted for
me. Something like several hundred couples per day get divorced. The total for one week equaled
half of the number of people who marry in the same week.

Then she told me that, "Korean men have more hardship after divorce."

I was a little surprised at hearing a Korean woman say this. I expected her to tell me what I
already felt -- that Korean women get the shaft in such situations. She looked at it a
different way, however. She said that there are now stories about how many divorced Korean men
are unable to care for themselves, since their mothers and wives did it for them their whole
life.

It is kind of interesting, if you think about it. Also, I don't know how many Korean women
are interested in having a future with a divorced Korean guy. I know most Korean guys don't
want to marry a divorced Korean woman -- that's for sure. Even in my home country, there is a
bit of a stigma with some, but it's much stronger among Koreans.

She also mentioned that lots of Korean women go to the internet to date.... foreigners. As a
person who's been dating in Korea for nearly 3 years now, I'd have to agree. Lots of divorced
women do seek to date foreigners. I'd say this is true because we don't attach such a stigma to
them for being divorced. Also, I know for a fact that Korean women feel a great deal of shame
over divorce. When they are with a foreigner, they don't have to feel that way.

Lastly, we chatted about how women are treated as "property" in Korea (their name is
transferred to their husband's family book, and erased entirely if they divorce).

My friend made an interesting deduction after hearing me say, "Korean men are very proud and
nationalistic, and many are really worried about losing their women and the future of their
nation to foreigners."

She responded by saying, "If that's the case, then Korean men need to realize that 50% of the
female population is divorcing, and they need to start caring about that 50% if they intend to
keep a national identity for much longer."

What do you think? Are Korean men ignoring that 50% of the female population that divorces?

Do Koreans re-marry after divorce? I only know divorced Koreans, but I imagine if they
re-marry, they hide previous marriages at all costs.