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The divorce rate is increasing among young people in Korea. According to the National Statistical Office on Tuesday, the divorce rate among males aged between 15 and 24 was 48.3 per 1,000 married men in 2007, nearly 10 times the average divorce rate for the entire married male population (5.2 per 1,000 married men).
This is about a 50 percent increase since 2000, when the figure was 32.5 per 1,000 married men. The divorce rate among females in the same age group was even higher, at 50.8 per 1,000 married women in 2007.
According to the NSO, the figures show that many young people who get married end up divorcing easily, while the prevailing trend in Korea is toward remaining single or getting married later.
An NSO official said, "Since 2000, cases of international marriages have drastically increased, with young brides arriving from Southeast Asian nations in large numbers. But their divorce rate has been rising, pushing up the overall divorce rate among the entire young female population."
Of the 5,187 cases of divorce among females aged between 15 and 24 in 2007, 1,480, or 28.5 percent, involved foreign women.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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