More Korean brides are going for younger grooms

Kim Yuna, left, looks at her groom Ko Woo-rim during their wedding on Oct. 22 last year. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

One out of every five brides last year in Korea were older than their grooms.

Of the 148,288 couples that married for the first time last year, 28,781 couples, or 19.4 percent, had brides older than the groom, according to data from the Korean Statistical Information Service on Monday.

Olympic gold medalist figure skater Kim Yuna, 33, and singer Ko Woo-rim, 28, were one of those newlyweds.

There were 12,983 couples, or 8.8 percent of the total, with a bride one year older than the groom. It was the first time the number of these couples surpassed the number of couples with a groom four years older. In 1990, the same figure was 48,531, or 13.6 percent of the total newlyweds.

Koreans traditionally viewed a couple with a man four years older as a perfect match, partially due to the oriental marriage fortune that says couples with a four-year age difference make the best pairs.

Although there are still more newlyweds with older grooms, more women are marrying younger men. In 2012, 68.2 percent of newlyweds had older grooms while 15.6 percent had older brides. The rest were born in the same year, which by Korean age standards means they are the same age. By 2022, 64.4 percent had older grooms while 19.4 percent had older brides.

The increasing number of women with stable jobs or good financial status may have played a role in the trend. More women are willing to marry men who have a relatively lower financial status, unlike in the past when men were the main breadwinners.

“Older men with a decent socioeconomic status still tend to prefer younger women,” said Shin Min-ho, a CEO of a dating agency. Like men, more women are also choosing a partner based on looks and a young age rather than social status, Shin added.

Women getting married at a later age may be another factor for the shift. The average age of brides who married for the first time was 24.8 years in 1990. It rose to 26.5 in 2000, 28.9 in 2010 and 31.3 last year.

BY JEONG JIN-HO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]