French-turned-Korean TV celebrity Ida Daussy, third from left, is married to a Korean man and the couple have two children. International marriages have formed a new kind of family dynamic in Korea.

By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

One out of every eight marriages is international but such multicultural marriages have yet to take root in this land of ``blood purity.’’

About 35.9 percent of farmers have chosen spouses from other countries, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said. Marriages between Korean men and women from Southeast Asian countries take the lion’s share.

``As conditions get better in the rural areas, more intercultural marriages are taking place and non-Korean native brides are relatively easy to find,’’ Lee Young-ae of international marriage agency Arirang Wedding, said.

The number of marriages between Koreans and brides from non-Southeast Asian countries is also on the increase.

In the beginning, she said, couples undergo hard times because of different cultural backgrounds. The infamous conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is also a headache.

Interracial marriage is not a new thing in Korea. In fact, the wife of the late Syng-man Rhee, who served as the first president of the Republic of Korea, was from Austria. According to historical reports, people did not care too much about it.

Still, for many people, marriage between different nationalities seems rare and new.

Ida Daussy, a French native who married a Korean man, confessed that she and her children still experience being observed, or ``welcomed’’ by Koreans. ``I mean, I think it’s time I was treated as a member of society, but I still feel like a stranger here.’’

She has lived in Korea for 15 years and is well known for her television appearances, but she says that people often stare at her on the streets and ask her whether she likes Korean food and comment on how well she speaks Korean.

However, as Daussy readily admits, being a Caucasian is less difficult than marriages involving partners with darker skins. For them, life in Korea is not so easy.

Park Israr, a Pakistani native, and his wife Park Young-keum have experienced insults in the neighborhood and on the streets.

He gained Korean citizenship because his wife wanted him to settle down in Korea, but he confesses that he doesn’t feel he belongs anywhere. ``If I make a mistake, drivers on the streets call me names about my skin, and many times I have to overcome people’s biased ideas about being Korean,’’ he said to local weekly Hankyoreh 21.

Park is now working at the Korean migrant workers’ center to teach elementary and high school students about human rights and racism in Korea.

Life for the children of intercultural families is not easy either. Children from such families tend to learn Korean or other languages late and incompletely compared to Korean natives.

``It’s because their mothers at home do not speak good Korean and they tend to have some confusion in their language structure,’’ Professor Seol Dong-hoon of Chunbuk National University said, calling for proper education on children.

Also, many international marriages between rural men and Southeast Asian women have a 10 to 19 year-age gap.

Seol said if they are not provided with proper jobs or education, then in their 60s they will be widows with no income.

Campaigns about intercultural marriage _ accept them as another form of the nuclear family _ is also needed.

According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Affairs, 20.6 percent of children from intercultural marriages have experienced isolation or bullying among their peers.

Also, many people who have married foreigners say they have received dirty looks from people while walking down the street or while holding hands.

``There will be more of these marriages in the country in the near future. We need to understand their status and try to accept them. We also need to support them through the legal system as well,’’ said Rep. Kim Choon-jin of the pro-government Uri Party.