Can the korean accept intermarriage?? Please read for details?

Question

A friend of mine is a chinese american. He met this girl from Korea in their campus while studying architecture.
They love each other and plan to get married soon after graduation.
I know little about korean people, but I do know xenophobia is strong in Korea.
The young man family can accept the girl, but she seem hasn't tell her parents about her boyfriend yet.
Being a single child of her parents she wants his boyriend to live in Korea near her parents.

My question is can the korean people accept such intermarriage because of their xenophobia?
If they live in Korea can the neighbours accept them or alienating them instead?
And I doubt the boy can easily search for a job in the Korea
They're still young and naive. I don't want them to make a rush decision that they will regret.

Any advice will be appreciated, especially from expat who used to live in Korea, thanks

so many good answers, it's hard to decide which's the best

Answer 1

My wife is Korean, and we have been married 36 years without any problems. Marriages between Chinese and Koreans are become much more frequent due to college exchanges and commercial activities. Aside from ignorant bigots, most Koreans have no problem with intermarriage. In these 36 years (with 5 years spent in Seoul, Taegu, and Pusan), we have had maybe three or four situations of people saying something or looking at us in an angry way (other than North Korean soldiers at the DMZ).

Your friends should not worry, and I hope that they have many happy years together.

Answer 2

If she still hasn't told her parents even tho they are planning to get married, she is probably pretty nervous about her parents accepting him. There are quite a few Koreans who look down on interracial marriage and even more so if it is to another Asian, since for some Koreans, they are the best type of Asian. In terms of living there, he could find a job if he speaks Korean well enough, but they would have some problems with neighbors. However, the real problem is down the road when they have kids. Mixed kids really get tormented. If they are going to have kids, they need to move to the US.

Answer 3

Well alot of korean parents REALLY dont want there kids to get married out the korean race. I`m thinking that it has to do with conserving the korean heritage and stuff like that. Usually only the older generations thinks this way, and to the younger people it doesnt matter too much what race the person is. Hope I kinda helped.

Answer 4

Perhaps many Koreans fear and dislike foreigners because of their unfortunate history with foreign invasions and subjugations. But intermarriage between Koreans and people of other nationalities and races is actually quite common. And I don't think you need to worry about your friend and his girlfriend.

Here is what one recent article says about intermarriage in South Korea:

"In fact, demographic trends indicate that by 2020, there will be considerably more than 1.5 million mixed-race Koreans. One in three newborns will be multi-racial, and one in five people under the age of 20 will be multi-racial. For the next 15 years at least, South Korea is going to be an easy target for those wanting to highlight its xenophobia - but given its dynamic demographic nature, a multicultural Korea may not be far away."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/HF13Dg01.html

Answer 5

It definitely depends on who you are dealing with but most of older generation are tough on this issue. I don't want to give you a false hope or anything here. The reality is that most of parents don't want their child to get married no one but Koreans even if they are very open to making friends with foreigners.

Things have changed over the years, but the truth is that she will have some tough time convincing her parents and friends.

Good luck and don't be discouraged. :)

Answer 6

okay. this is my opinion and i am speaking only out of my mind.
i dont think it is good i dea for the guy to move in to korea.
i mean i know korean adults are very stubborn (and uneasy to change). A lot of them are probably deny at first, because it is very different from what they have seen.

but if both guy and girl "love" (emphasis, not like, but love) each other. they might consider moving into US or Australia where there is multi-race. There, they will accepted and treated whole lot better.

Answer 7

it just depends on the parents. some parents don't care (like my parents), but some parents strongly dislike the idea of even dating foreigners, because they are totally different than koreans. (even ASIANS!!)
I would say that do not live in Korea if you lived in America. it's very hard for a person who lived in U.S. to go back to korea and live. you'll see how crude can people be as foreigners.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

i think marketingsyndrome's response is right on. i dated two korean girls during my 5 years living there and both of them never wanted me to meet their families. i think older parents tend to care more. yes, these days there are more inter-racial marriages happening, but its not easily taken in by some families still.

Answer 10

chinese ppl like japanese ppl invaded us thousands of times including in the modern times so how not care about this sensible issue...