marriage
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Money Is Key: Weddings for the Willingly Unmarried
While myriad reasons are causing young South Koreans to shun putting rings on their partners’ fingers, money is often the definitive factor. An average wedding costs 270 million won (24,000 U.S. dollars); not only that, finding affordable housing in major cities is close to impossible for newlyweds. As
Public Wedding Ad Angers Young South Koreans
A beaming young bride and groom step through a door into a sunlit future, accompanied by the strings of Wagner’s Wedding March… only to be confronted by a daunting row of hurdles. So begins a public-service advertisement from Kobaco (Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation) released on
Anger at Adultery Betrays Fear at Fragility of Marriage
In my area of Seoul lives a celebrity — he is an indy singer best known for appearing on a TV variety show some years ago. I often see him at our neighborhood bar when I am going home. But more recently, I saw him walking his dogs with a
Being Single Yet Married: "Graduation from Marriage" Trending
Baek Il-seob, 72, is a veteran actor who has built a following from appearing in a widely popular travel reality show “Grandpas Over Flowers.” He’s been married for some forty years. He also hasn’t seen his wife in over a year. Back in November, Baek set South Korea
When the Foreign Husband Is a Nepalese Labor Activist
Udaya Rai is a Nepalese citizen and president of the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants’ Trade Union (MTU), one of the most visible organizations to fight for the rights of migrant workers in South Korea. I recently profiled him for Equal Times, a publication of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). But our
Dating for Dummies
A couple, obviously bored out of their minds, stare intently at their smartphones in a Seoul coffee shop. The small talk, if there is any, is painful to eavesdrop on. Despite their matching clothes, ubiquitous couple rings, and obligatory selfies together, they seem to have little in common. So why
Inter-Korean Marriage and Pursuit of Assimilation
A North Korean woman, alone in her cheap government housing, asks, “I want to get married. Where is my love?” She daydreams of being only in her underwear, straddling her ideal South Korean man, and calling out to him in affection, “My dear husband.” That controversial advertisement by a matchmaking