Korean Men and Vietnamese Women Divorce Rate Hits 13-Year High... Is Nationality the Goal?

Vietnam Ranks First in International Marriages with Korean Men for 10 Years
Divorce Cases Also Rise by 8.3% Compared to Previous Year

Last year, the divorce rate between Korean men and Vietnamese women reached its highest level in 13 years.

On the 23rd, Statistics Korea announced that the total number of divorces between Korean men and foreign women last year was 4,218 cases. This represents a 1.8% increase compared to the previous year (4,175 cases).

Among these, the number of divorces between Korean men and Vietnamese women was recorded at 1,215 cases, an 8.3% increase from the previous year (1,122 cases). In terms of the growth rate (8.3%), this is the highest record in 13 years since 2011 (24.4%).

In particular, it is estimated that many Vietnamese women marry Korean men for the purpose of acquiring nationality, then divorce and remarry Vietnamese men.

Foreigners can acquire Korean nationality if they have lived in Korea for more than two years while married to a Korean spouse, or if three years have passed since marriage and they have lived in Korea for more than one year.

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Vietnam has been the country with the most foreign women marrying Korean men over the past 10 years. The nationalities of foreign women married to Korean men were ▲Vietnam (32.1%) ▲China (16.7%) ▲Thailand (13.7%) in order, with Japanese women accounting for 7.5% of all marriages to foreign women.

Last year, the number of marriages to Vietnamese women was 5,017, a 1.9% increase from the previous year, accounting for 32.1% of all marriages to foreign women (15,624 cases).

Conversely, the number of marriages between Korean women and Vietnamese men last year was 771 cases, a 2.1% decrease from the previous year. However, it still ranks second after China (905 cases).

By type of marriage, remarriages accounted for 728 cases, or 94.4% of the total, but the number itself decreased by 3.2% compared to the previous year. First marriages were only 43 cases.

A Statistics Korea official analyzed, “Although the number of remarriages slightly decreased last year, there was a base effect due to large increases in 2022 (32.4% increase from the previous year) and 2023 (35.3% increase). The number of remarriages between Korean women and Vietnamese men is steadily rising.”