Yonhap
SEOUL – The number of marriages between South Koreans and foreign spouses rose more than 18 percent in 2023, as those between Vietnamese bridegrooms and naturalized South Korean brides gained sharply, data showed Wednesday.
The number of multicultural marriages increased 18.3 percent on-year to reach 20,000 last year, according to the data from Statistics Korea.
The number of international marriages fell sharply to 15,300 cases in 2020 from the previous year's 23,600 and further to about 13,000 the following year due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
But the figure bounced back to about 17,000 cases in 2022 and further to 20,000 last year.
Of the total marriages in South Korea last year, multicultural marriages accounted for 10.2 percent, up from the previous year's 8.7 percent.
Vietnamese women took up the largest share of all foreign wives with 33.5 percent last year, followed by Chinese with 18.1 percent and Thai with 13.7 percent.
Of foreign husbands, those from the United States accounted for the largest share with 27.7 percent, followed by China with 18.4 percent and Vietnam with 15.8 percent.
The number of Vietnamese husbands marrying South Korean women, in particular, advanced 35.2 percent year-on-year, as an increasing number of naturalized South Korean women from Vietnam got remarried with Vietnamese men after divorcing their South Korean husbands, according to officials.
Many Vietnamese women opt to acquire Korean nationality after their marriage to South Korean men.
The number of South Korean wives' second marriages with Vietnamese men has been on an increase from 420 in 2021 to 556 in 2022 and 752 cases in 2023, according to the data.
The number of divorces among multicultural couples rose 5.1 percent on-year to 6,000 in 2023, the data showed. (Yonhap)
