If recent BBC coverage is anything to go by, marriage in South Korea is like a business. It’s also becoming a bit of an explosive topic as social mobility slows down and the traditional image of the male breadwinner becomes eroded by the increasing participation of females in the labour market. Some of the most widely publicised scandals and controversies on the Korean internet seem to have been, in some way or another, due to this intensifying gender friction.
While we diligently report on the online war of sexes, this year’s Chuseok [Korean harvest festival] drew some fresh blood with what is quickly becoming a staple on Korean airwaves – multicultural housewives.
The growing presence of foreigners in South Korea generates many a conflicting opinion on the Korean internet, and some of the themes broadcast by the Korean media during Chusoek last week were a timely reminder of this diversification in marriage partner selection. Perhaps nothing is more appealing to a Korean TV audience than a stock of resilient wives and affable daughter-in-laws – themes which often draw a very warn reception from viewers.
Chusoek, probably the most politicised of holidays in the South Korean calendar, has become the family occasion in which the traditional gender division of labour now clashes with the changing status of women thanks to the intense preparation necessary for jerye [ancestor worship]. Compounded with the several hours of travel-induced fatigue, the inevitable family grievances, and the stress of awkward questions from well-meaning relatives, the otherwise festive season can become quite the stressful tinderbox.
Connected to this minor TV phenomena is the wider gender politics that often recalls widespread plastic surgery, sexual violence, courting for marriage, an obsession with luxury goods, online pornography, the business of dowry, changing sexual mores, relationships with foreign men, and clubbing culture, to name but a few.
To this ever-expanding front-line of the cultural war within South Korea, multicultural marriages and foreign housewives looks set to be an increasingly important topic.
The below article is a series of screen shots published on Korean internet portal Daum about an SBS special that was aired on Korean television over the Chuseok holiday. The documentary followed the life of an Uzbek woman, married to a Korean man.
From Daum:
Comments from Daum:
pride:
Uzbekistan and South Korea no visa policy now!
차말로:
So we can conclude from this… that everything is forgiven if she is pretty… Treat her well and don’t get tired of her until the end!
부자됨지구평화:
Why do ugly Korean men think that foreign women will somehow appreciate them when they’re rejected by their own women? ke ke ke ke
이한성:
Ah fuck, I am not even kidding. I have to go there. I was born in ’82 but I am so sick of beanpaste girls. That angelic face and heart… That is the promised land, the land of our brothers… I will go… Uzbekistan, here I come…
김종민:
I am an old unmarried bachelor.. Should I go to Uzbekistan? ke ke ke, ah… ㅠㅠ
nobless:
The Uzbeks are mostly Russian with some Mongoloid blood mixed in. Her dark color suggests that she is one of those. Ishinbayeba is a Mongoloid and Maria Sharapova is pure Slav. Western Russia is pure Slav, Ukraine for instance. There you see fashion models selling sandwiches on the street, but Kim Tae-hee is out working in the fields….
쩡이:
Oh please go and find foreign women and stop troubling us poor Korean women… please ke ke ke
—–:
All the fools thinking Uzbek women are easy-picking are thick as hell. You are competing over same set of women as American and European men. Korean men think they can just go and shop around for a fresh new virgin bargain – you must be truly delusional. Women there are as picky as Korean women. And you think you can buy a house like the one on TV? Korean losers with this kind of mind-set will never meet a proper woman.
aoe2341:
Uzbekistan numero uno~
대기업 회장:
Don’t let the Joseonjok in. Let those Uzbek virgins in instead.
참개구리;
If you must marry, marry an Uzbek woman.
zzz:
Uzbeks are far superior to us. Because they are white. The Joseonjok are so fucking ugly. In other words, they and we look too alike.
Talk타임리스:
If Uzbek women look like that, Uzbek men must be hella cute as well.. So why do those women abandon them pretty faces and big dicks to come to Korea then~? Think you brainless dicks~! They’re Uzbek beanpaste girls.
TaraOut:
That is not considered pretty in Uzbekistan? So… that… Uzbek women, I must rescue all of you!! ㅠㅠ
Liza:
So Korean men are so enlightened and have hearts of gold? That’s why we’re the number one rapists in the world?
