A Bride Deficit and Marriage Migration in South Korea
| Author | Seo‐Young Cho |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12432 |
A Bride Deficit and Marriage Migration in
South Korea
Seo-Young Cho*
ABSTRACT
This article empirically investigates whether cultural, genetic, and linguistic similarities
between countries explain marriage migration. The empirical evidence supported by marriage
migration data from South Korea shows that the bilateral similarities between Korea and
spouse-sending countries are important pull factors of marriage migration. Furthermore, the
pull effects vary across different income levels of sending countries and between the genders
of marriage migrants. The positive effects of cultural and genetic similarities are mainly driven
by female marriage migrants from middle- and low-income countries in Asia. A female deficit
in the marital age group in South Korea may contribute to pulling this type of migration into
the country.
INTRODUCTION
The economics of marriage explain how individuals categorize the characteristics of potential
spouses and make a decision based on the sorting of such characteristics. According to Becker
(1974), sorting behaviours are observed in two ways: positive and negative assortative matching.
Positive assortative sorting (PAM) indicates that people choose spouses with similar traits to them-
selves –particularly according to genetic and cultural backgrounds. Negative assortative matching
(NAM) is evident in income differences between husbands and wives (i.e. men marrying down to
women with lower income, and women marrying up to wealthier men).
1
These sorting behaviours are often well-observed in international marriages accompanied by mar-
riage migration, a growing type of marriage today. Marriage migration takes place through multi-
layered decision-making that involves not only choosing a spouse, but also choosing to move
across the world. Theoretical predictions propose several matching hypotheses regarding the choice
of marriage migration. First, familiarity may play an important role if one prefers an international
spouse whose genetic and cultural traits are similar to his/her own (PAM). Alternatively, exotic
traits of spouses that are different from one’s own may increase international matching if people
who decide to marry internationally have such a preference (NAM). Income differences between
the respective countries of international couples may also affect the decision of marriage migration,
particularly when international marriage is used as an instrument of migration (migratory motives,
NAM).
Using marriage migration data from South Korea (hereinafter Korea), this article investigates
these matching hypotheses in order to quantify the explanatory power of trait similarities over mar-
riage migration. Korea currently experiences a high growth rate of marriage migration (Figure 1),
and the integration of foreign spouses into the local society has become an important social issue
* Philipps-University of Marburg
doi: 10.1111/imig.12432
©2018 The Author
International Migration ©2018 IOM
International Migration Vol. 56 (6) 2018
ISS N 00 20- 7985 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
(Lee et al., 2006; Kim, 2009; B
elanger et al., 2010). At the same time, it faces a notable demo-
graphic change that pulls marriage migration into the country. Namely, the sex ratio in the marital
age group (25–34) is imbalanced, having more males than females (the ratio is 1.04 in 2010, Fig-
ure 2). Such a deficit in the female population inevitably leads to bride deficits, thus leading men
to search for spouses abroad (Lee, 2010). This development consequently affects the patterns of
marriage migration. The scarcity of local Korean brides is a crucial reason why Korean men seek
an international bride; a foreign wife is often considered as an alternative to a local one. In this
respect, trait similarities of foreign brides with those of Koreans are an important factor in deciding
such an international match.
Accordingly, cultural (religious), genetic, and linguistic similarities with Koreans are proposed to
be important shared traits and their effects on marriage migration are estimated in the empirical
analysis. In addition, income differences between Korea and origin countries may have significant
influences in this context. This would be the case if there is need-based matching between Korean
men seeking a foreign bride due to the scarcity of local women and foreign women who want to
marry and migrate internationally due to economic hardship. To shed light on this migratory effect,
this article addresses whether the effects of the similarities that presumably pull marriage migration
vary across different income levels of origin countries.
The findings of this article show that bilateral similarities between Korea and sending countries
are important determinants of marriage migration matching, particularly for women from middle-
and low-income countries. This is probably because the need of Korean men for foreign brides
who possess traits similar to Koreans’is likely to be fulfilled by the migratory intensions of women
from lower income countries. On the other hand, the effects of the cultural and genetic similarities
are not evident for marriage migrants from high-income countries. For them, communicational abil-
ities (linguistic similarities and speaking English) are a more deciding factor. These income-asym-
metric effects of the similarities reveal that the positive assortative matching of similar traits is
channelled via the negative assortative matching of income differences between Korea and sending
countries.
FIGURE 1
TRENDS OF MARRIAGE MIGRATION IN SOUTH KOREA, BY GENDER
Female Marriage Migrants
Male Marriage Migrants
Source: Korean Immigration Service (2002-2012)
A Bride Deficit and Marriage Migration in South Korea 101
©2018 The Author. International Migration ©2018 IOM
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