Marriage Brokers in Vietnam

On a totally different note....

As most of you know, it has become more difficult for Korean men to get married as Korean women have becoming more affluent and work-orientated. I didn't realize it was such a big problem though until I ran across this article about marriage brokers in Vietnam arranging marraiges for Korean bachelors.

It touched upon several interesting points, such as the future implications upon a Korean national identity that is based upon ethnic homogeneity, and how these womens' impressions of Korea and Korean people had been shaped by what they saw on T.V., vis-a-vis the Hallyu Wave. I hope these women aren't too disappointed by reality and that they will be able to assimilate well into Korean society. I am especially interested in the latter issue as Koreans do have a tendency to look down upon Southeast Asians (at least from what I've seen).

As a side note, last year or the year before there was a Korean drama that touched upon this issue. Entitled "The Bride from Hanoi," it was about two brothers who fell for the same girl (the older brother meets the girl through a matchmaking program). It touched upon issues of class, ethnicity (the girl was half Korean, half Vietnamese), and your run-of-the-mill Korean dramatizations . I only saw bits and pieces of it so I can't comment as to how good it was, but overall it seemed pretty interesting. So if you guys want to combine "learning" the Korean language with social issues, this is a good way to go!