Adventurous and Seeking the Exotic, Korean Men Turn to Russian Wives

"I learned about the possibility of marrying a Korean though a marriage agency's television advertisement, and I got interested in Korea," Valia Ossipova, 18, said of her decision to marry a Korean man. "I am in the process of adjusting and I like the close family relations and respect for the elderly in Korean culture." She has been married a month and lives in Daegu with her husband, who asked to be identified only as Mr. Lee, 39. He owns and runs an express bus company with his parents there.

Ms. Ossipova's knowledge on Korea before meeting Mr. Lee was limited to some television shows and books she read while a university student. She said she had not met any Koreans before meeting him. But after making an effort to learn about Korea in her hometown of Amursk in the Russian Far East, she developed an affection for the country and decided to check out the marriage agency.

Physical appearance tops the reasons Mr. Lee says he decided to look for a Russian woman to marry. "I was very picky about the looks of the woman I wanted to marry," he said, adding that he had problems finding a Korean woman who met his high standards.

So Mr. Lee decided to look into Dong Won Wedding Consulting Cause and Occasion, a marriage agency specializing in marriages between Korean men and Russian women that has been in business for six months. International marriages through agencies are not uncommon in Korea. Korean bachelor farmers, unable to find Korean women willing to marry into an agricultural life, have often sought to find their life companion in the larger international community, especially among women in China or Vietnam. But a new trend is emerging in Korea, as well-to-do Korean men are seeking out their spouses among Caucasian women, especially in Russia. Unlike their less-affluent counterparts in rural areas, they are crossing not only cultural and language boundaries, but racial ones as well － precisely for their spouse's exotic looks and different cultural background. Kim Joon-beom, who runs Wed Russia, said, "We are not talking about any man who has difficulties finding a spouse, but rather men who are well qualified to marry but picky about the looks of their wives-to-be that are looking for Russian women. They look for 'Barbie doll' styles - small faces and slim waists. Men with stable income, we have found, prefer Caucasian women over Chinese or Korean-Russians." Mr. Kim's marriage agency, established in May, links Korean men with women in the Russian far east.

Oh won-gap, president of Dong Won Wedding Consulting Cause and Occasion, added some other factors. "Most of the men are white-collar workers with their own business or working in stable, well-paying jobs who delayed getting married. But Korean women are picky about age, while Russian women are not. Also, there is the curiosity and looks factor. Russian women choose Korean men for financial stability and responsibility as the head of the household," he said.

Most Korean men showing up at the agencies are in their late thirties and early forties, with stable income, and most Russian women are in their late teens and 20s.

Most marriage agencies require women applicants to have at least a two-year college education; the men must demonstrate their financial stability. The agencies claim they interview the candidates and check records thoroughly to screen out those with bad personal habits and dubious marital status.

The pictures of the female candidates are posted on the agencies' Web sites and kept on file for registered male candidates to view. After the men choose one to three female candidates, who then also can view the men's profiles, the agencies arrange for a meeting for about a week in Russia, after which the men decide. If the women agree to marry, paperwork is arranged for the women to come to Korea to marry. Fees average 10 million won ($7,700), and are paid by the man.

In 2000, of the 7,304 registered marriages between Korean men and non-Korean women, 80 involved Russian wives, according to the National Statistical Office. Statistics are not available for earlier years; the numbers, if any, were too small to be broken out from the "other" category.

Mr. Lee met Ms. Ossipova for a week in Amursk in August and conversed through an interpreter. The two then got engaged there.

Another 32-year-old man who has been married to a 23-year-old Russian woman for a year said Russian women are honest, expressive about their feelings and active. The downside is their individualism, he said. Unlike Korean women, who dutifully do the housework, he complained, he must help with chores at home. He said that his wife found curious Korean glances difficult to deal with.

"Korean men should not think of the women as something they can just buy with money, but should perceive them as individuals," cautioned Park Young-aey, manager of Galaxy Wedding International Consulting.

And they should avoid hasty choices. According to Mr. Oh, some agencies simply try to match people quickly, paying little attention to backgrounds or compatibility. He himself married a Russian woman through an agency, he said, after having divorced a Korean wife.

But once she was in Korea, he said, he discovered that she had married him not to build a family but to work as a model here. He rejected the idea, the marriage broke up in three months and he sent her back to Russia.

Another man had his own cautionary tale about a Russian mail-order bride. "The agency told me that she said she was never married. But once in Korea, drunk, she confessed to being a mother. She also had a tattoo which seemed to indicate that she was linked to a crime organization and she smoked pot. We parted after eight days," Kim Tae-min, 35, said of his attempt to marry a Russian woman in March.

Other hurdles await those whose marriages are more successful. Nigora Nizamidinovna, 21, did not meet her husband, 35 and also asking for anonymity, through a marriage agency. He went on a week's trip to Kazakhstan precisely to find a wife and met her at a Korean church six months ago. They spent a day together and decided a month later to marry. She said, "The language barrier and food are difficult. My husband eats Korean food that his mother cooks for him, and I prepare my own food, like salads." They now communicate in sign language and the little Korean and Russian they have each studied.

But she is generally satisfied with her marriage and appreciative of the fact that her husband's parents are kind to her. They do not even not let her do the cleaning that she would be doing back home, she said.

by Kwon Chee-min