According to statistics presented by the Ministry of Justice to United New Democratic Party lawmaker Sun Byong-ryul, the number of foreign women living in Korea on a marriage visa or who changed their visa after marrying a Korean man more than doubled from 24,215 in 2001 to 51,920 in 2004. In August of this year the figure was 93,902.

Foreign women married to Korean men learn how to prepare food for the Chuseok ancestral ceremony in September, ahead of the Korean Thanksgiving holiday.

Korea is clearly becoming a more multi-ethnic society, since in addition to the foreign wives the number of foreign residents topped one million in August.

Chinese women made up the largest group of foreign wives with 54,316, followed by Vietnamese (19,705), Japanese (5,462), Filipina (4,698), Mongolian (1,945), Thai (1,673) and Cambodian (1,374). The number of Russians and Americans who married Korean men were 923 and 550, respectively.

While the number of international marriages is growing, the number of divorces is also on the rise. Divorce suits among international couples in Korea grew from 363 in 2003 to 1,161 in 2005. In the first half of this year, the figure amounted to 1,264.

Lawmaker Sun said the country should develop systematic measures to help foreign women married with Korean men to adjust to life in their adopted country.

(englishnews@chosun.com )