Foreign wives happy with life in Korea

여성 결혼이민자들 ‘한국생활 행복’





높은 나이 차이와 학력 차이에도 불구하고 여성 결혼이민자들 중 절반이 넘는 수가 한국 생활에 비교적 만족하고 있다는 조사 결과가 나왔다. 이번 조사는 보건복지가족부가 지난해 7월부터 3개월에 걸쳐 결혼이민자 13만 천 명을 대상으로 한 것이며 정부 차원에서 결혼이민자를 대상으로 실시한 최초의 전수조사이다. 결혼이민자는 중국 조선족이 30.4%로 가장 많았고, 한족 등 중국인이 27.3%, 베트남이 19.5%로 뒤를 이었다. 여성 결혼이민자와 한국인 남편과의 나이 차이는 평균 10살, 학력은 초등학교 이하 여성 이민자의 절반이 고등학교 이상의 학력을 가진 한국인 남편과 결혼한 것으로 나타났다. 한편, 보건복지부의 한 관계자는 소득 수준이 낮고, 외국인으로 차별을 받는 결혼 이민자 가정을 돕는 다문화가족지원정책을 추진하겠다고 밝혔다.



Despite a wide age and academic gap, over half of foreign spouses married to Koreans showed relatively high satisfaction with their lives here, according to survey results released yesterday.

The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs surveyed about 131,000 foreign spouses between July and October last year, in what was the widest-ranging government-run survey of marriage immigrants ever conducted.

Of the total 167,090 marriage immigrants here as of May last year, those married to naturalized Koreans or foreign nationals were excluded from the survey, the ministry said.

The response rate to the questionnaire was 60 percent.

According to the survey, ethnic Koreans from China accounted for the largest, 30.4 percent, followed by Han Chinese with 27.3 percent, Vietnamese with 19.5 percent, Filipino with 6.6 percent, and Japanese with 4.1 percent. And nearly 90 percent of them were female.

Most of them lived in bigger cities, with 51.9 percent living in Seoul and the surrounding area.

Reflecting a recent surge in international marriage, 81.8 percent of foreign spouses came to Korea since 2000, with 54 percent entering since 2005.

The survey showed that there was an average 10-year age gap between foreign wives and Korean husbands, while the gap between foreign husbands and Korean wives was less than 2 years.

The age gap was more apparent especially with Cambodian and Vietnamese wives with 17.5 and 17 years, respectively.



There was also a huge gap in the educational background between foreign wives and Korean husbands. Half of the wives had not completed elementary level education, while their Korean spouses were mostly high-school graduates.

Foreign spouses expressed overall satisfaction with their life in Korea, with 57 percent of the wives and 53.8 percent of the husbands showing high contentment. The proportion who had complaints was 6.7 percent in women and 8.3 percent in men.

While those from North America, Australia, West Europe, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam showed higher satisfaction, Japanese spouses exposed the least satisfaction about their lives here.

About their marriage life, the satisfaction rate was 74.8 percent with their Korean spouses, 88.1 percent with kids and 64.8 percent with the relationship with their family-in-laws.

The figures were higher than those of Koreans. In a social statistics survey conducted in 2008, the rate of Koreans was 65.7 percent with their spouses, 72.7 percent with kids and 52.4 percent with family-in-laws.

When asked if they would recommend marriage with Koreans to family members in their home country, 46.2 percent of foreign wives and 54.5 percent of foreign husbands responded positively.

Experts said, however, their higher-than-expected satisfaction originates more from their personal feelings, rather than specific changes in social support recently.

"The concerns that they had when they decided to get married to Korean spouses could have been eased during the years of their marriage life here," said Kwon Yong-hyun, director general of family affairs at the Health Ministry.

"Considering the overall results of the survey, however, their financial struggles and social discrimination against them were still the same," he added, saying that the government will seek more measures to support them.

According to the survey, nearly 60 percent of the multicultural families surveyed were struggling financially, earning less than 2 million won ($1,700) per month. The percentage of high-income families pulling in more than 5 million won was 2.1 percent.

The average monthly income of Korean households was 3.3 million won last year, the Health Ministry said.

Regarding discrimination, 34.8 percent of foreign wives and 52.8 percent of foreign husbands said they had been discriminated against. Experts said that because males are involved in more social activities, they may have more opportunities to experience prejudice.

In the survey, the employment rate of foreign husbands was 74 percent, almost double the 37 percent foreign wives who had jobs.

For difficulties in their lives here, foreign wives pointed out the language problem (22.5 percent) is the most urgent issue, followed by economics with 21.2 percent, and child education with 14.2 percent. Foreign husbands cited economics (29.5 percent), along with language problems (13.6 percent).

The Health Ministry plans to conduct the survey every three years, aimed at setting up realistic measures to support multicultural families.

The survey booklet, containing some 100 questions, is offered in 10 foreign languages.

(jylee@heraldm.com)



By Lee Ji-yoon