North, South Korean Couples Deal with Cultural, Language Differences
North and South Korean Couples Deal with Cultural, Language Differences
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Last year, Kim Seo-yun provided some essential information that is personal to her South Korean love interest.
She had fled North Korea about 10 years earlier in the day.
Kim supplied the info on her 2nd date with Lee Jeong-sup.
Lee asked jokingly if she had been a spy. Then he shared with her there is absolutely nothing incorrect with originating from North Korea.
Kim and Lee got married at a Seoul resort in June. But Kim’s household, nevertheless in North Korea, could maybe maybe perhaps maybe not go to the marriage ceremony.
“In Southern Korea, my hubby is my everything. We have no body else right right right right here. I was told by him he would have fun with the part of not merely my better half but in addition my moms and dads,” Kim stated.
Such marriages are getting to be increasingly typical in Southern Korea.
Significantly more than 70percent for the 33,000 North Koreans who possess fled to Southern Korea are females.
There are not any formal figures how North that is many koreans hitched South Korean males. But a 2019 study that is government-financed at 3,000 North Koreans living within the Southern. The findings advised that 43% of married ladies from North Korea had South husbands that are korean. Last year, that true quantity had been about 19%.
North Korean ladies frequently have actually problems adjusting to life in Southern Korea. They often times face discrimination and loneliness.
Some stated they married South Korean males to assist them to with regards to lives that are new.
“I feel just like my wedding is permitting me acclimate for this culture more profoundly without excessively hard work,” said Hwang Yoo-jung about her 2018 wedding up to a South Korean guy.
Lots of women who flee North Korea seek out matchmaking agencies – businesses that assist North Korean ladies meet South men that are korean. Often run by North Koreans, the businesses charge South men that are korean $2,500 for all blind times in per year. Nearly all women don’t need to spend.
Around 20 to 30 matchmaking agencies run in Southern Korea. Within the mid-2000s, there have been just two such companies.
Kim Hae-rin heads a match-making agency in Seoul.
Kim said she seems pleased to assist people fulfill “because we also arrived right right right here alone and understand (the suffering) of other refugees.”
A few of the partners, nonetheless, have problems. They share an ethnicity and language, however they can frequently look like foreigners one to the other. They’ve been, all things considered, wanting to bridge a division that is 75-year-old of Korean Peninsula.
Lee stated he attempts to utilize less words that are english speaking with their wife. She often confuses him through the use of North expressions that are korean he will not understand.
Hwang said her to a gathering of his friends and their wives that she feels “really, really happy” when her husband Seo Min-seok, takes. She claims they often times ask her questions regarding North Korea.
Search engine optimization stated he doesn’t frequently ask Hwang about her past in North Korea.
Ahn Kyung-su is a researcher with a group that is private studies health conditions when you look at the hookupdate.net/gleeden-review North. Ahn said a few of the North Koreans that he’s got talked to own told him that their South Korean husbands looked straight down in it and abused them.
Day Kim Seo-yun said she misses her parents and younger sister in North Korea and hopes to reunite with them one.
“Now, my better half is filling my heart. My mother-in-law treats me personally well. Therefore does my sister-in-law. It is like having strong supporters in my entire life, and I’m delighted now,” Kim stated.
I’m John Russell.
Hyung-Jin Kim reported about this tale for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA training English. George Grow had been the editor.
Terms in This Tale
date – n. an event whenever a couple who possess or may have a connection do an task together
part – n. the component that somebody has in a family group, culture, or other team
adjust – v. to alter to be able to work or fare better in a situation that is new
acclimate – v. to regulate or adjust to a brand new weather, destination, or situation — often + to
blind date – n. a night out together or social task between a couple that have maybe maybe perhaps not formerly met before
Couple – n. two people who are married or spend a complete great deal of the time together
confuse – v. to determine wrongly; to combine up
in-law – n. a family member by wedding