• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.279-298
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to review the trend in international marriage of Koreans based on Census data from 2001 to 2007 and to analyse socio-demographic characteristics of the married couples. This study remarks that as the primary causes underlying the recent increase in international marriages of Koreans, the change of worldwide condition such as globalization and localization, the condition of countries to leave immigrants, the change of sex/age ratio in population, and the change of value systems are addressed. Census data from the marriage and divorce registration for the period 2001-2007 are analysed. This study covers analysis of foreign partners' nationalities, remarriage, age gap between partners, education levels, male partners' occupation, region of residence and divorce in international marriage of Koreans.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.25-56
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• 2006

This study attempts to review the increasing trend in international marriage of Koreans since 1990 and explore the pattern of socio-demographic characteristics of the married couples. This paper develops a conceptual scheme for changing pattern of nuptiality including an increase in international marriage. As the key forces behind the recent increase in international marriage of Koreans, the effects of rapid decline in fertility, rise in sex ratio at birth, urbanward migration of young women, expansion of gender-equity norms, and globalization are stressed. Micro-data from the marriage registration for the period $1990{\sim}2004$ and the divorce registration for the period $2000{\sim}2004$ are utilized. This study focuses on analyzing age at marriage, previous marital experience, education, occupation, and residence of the married couples. Attention is also focused on demographic characteristics of the divorced couples. Results of analyses reveal that there exists a great deal of diversity in international marriage of Koreans. A notable aspect is the profound differences between Korean men and women in the characteristics of their foreign spouses and themselves as well. Another prominent factor emphasized in the analysis is the nationality of foreign spouse. It is indicated that the stereotype of international marriage facilitated by marriage squeeze can be mainly applied to marriages between Korean men and foreign wives from China, southeast Asian countries and the CIS of the old Soviet Union. On the other hand, direct effects of value transformation and globalization are emphasized in the explanation of marriages between Korean men and foreign wives from more developed countries as well as marriages between Korean women and foreign husbands.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.367-375
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to explore the reasons why Chinese marriage immigrant women do not teach their children to learn their mother tongue to second language and to present improvement plans about it. We have collected data mainly through in-depth-interview of four Chinese marriage immigrant women that have lived in Korea for more than 10 years from March to June, 2017. The results show that there are four environmental aspects why they do not teach their children to learn their mother tongue. First, their children are lack of access to learn Chinese. Second, their children do not want to learn Chinese because of the negative images of China in Korea. Third, Chinese marriage immigrant women are busy adjusting themselves to the Korean society so that they have no time to teach their children to learn Chinese. Lastly, Chinese marriage immigrant women are lack of confidence to teach their children to learn Chinese and Chinese culture, because it exist that Koreans have negative perceptions of other cultures. We hope that there will be opportunities for marriage immigrant women to teach their children to learn their mother tongue through this study.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.121-145
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to understand married female immigrants' life adjustment process in Korea by explaining the resources to which they have access and how they use them. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with ten female participants who have more than one child, have participated in programs of the multicultural family support center, have work experience, can communicate with Koreans, and live in Daegu. The major findings are as follows. The participants' personal resources differed. English language skills were very useful resources for making money and for earning the respect of family members and others. However, the participants without English language skills had sincerely and actively tried to learn the Korean language and gain bilingual competence. The participants obtained diverse family resources from their husbands and parents-in-law after adapting themselves to perform their gender role. Further, the participants used the social resources offered by public support systems as a starting point for learning the Korean language in their early adaptation process, and formed personal networks with staff members at the multicultural family support center. The results show that the participants used many kinds of resources for acculturation by interacting positively with their environment. Moreover, the resources from diverse levels of their environments affected their acculturation process.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.394-405
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify and describe cultural meanings for married Japanese immigrant women in rural Korean communities. Methods: The informants were 10 women in rural areas. Data were collected from August 2017 to June 2018 through in-depth interviews and participant observations and analyzed using text analysis and taxonomic methods developed by Spradley. Results: The meanings of adaptation were classified into five cultural domains: Practicing the doctrine, accepting the difference, redemption, true home, and confronting reality. The subthemes according to meanings of adaptation were comprised of international marriage with a sense of calling, bearing with sense of duty, and making a living substantively. The subthemes in this study reflect the process of adaptation. The cultural themes in the process of adaptation were overcoming differences and conflicts between Korea and Japan to achieve true family. Conclusion: The adaptation processes of married Japanese immigrant women included making their living reality known and recognizing the times when exchanges between Koreans and Japanese cannot exist within a hostile composition.

• Journal of International Area Studies (JIAS)
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.277-308
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• 2010

Since the globalization, many changes are occurring in our society. Multicultural phenonmenon in the society is becoming one of our major concern in the Korean society. Thus, this study is focusing on the multicultural phenomenon that we are facing since the globalization in Korea. No doubt that immigration is a growing force influencing the demographics of Korea. Since the mid-1990s, immigrant children and children from mixed marriage have become the fastest growing and the most extraordinarily diverse segment of Korea's child population. Until the recent past, Korea's major social attention has focused on adult immigrants to the neglect of their offspring, creating a profound gap between the strategic importance of the new second generation and the knowledge about its socioeconomic circumstances. In other words, there is a significant lack of studies on children of migrant, particularly from the Muslim background living in Korea. International marriage has grown rapidly in Korea since the late 1990s, and this phenomenon is especially common in rural farming communities. Most brides come from China, followed by Vietnam and other southeast Asian countries. However, there are certain number of Muslim bride coming to Korea. There are about 100 thousand muslim peoples living in Korean society. Among them 2.92% are Muslim immigrants' intermarriage with the Koreans. As a result, there are growing number of muslim brides and bridegroom settling in Korea, which would eventually create muslim families in growing korean multicultural societies. This study specify its research on the muslim mixed family by focusing on the offsprings of the muslim background. Our research team has created the new term on such research subject by using Koslim. Koslim is a 1.5 and 2^nd generation from the Muslim back ground family living in Korea. Thus, the objective of this study is to examine the awareness and the perception of Koslim by the Korean mainstream people. By doing so, it can analyze the general attitude of Koreans towards the Koslim people. In this sense this study intends to play a groundwork to promote successful coexistence between Korean and Koslim. It is anticipated that this research can lay the basis for Koreans to have more open and tolerant attitude towards our new members of society that is increasing everyday.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.589-602
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• 2012

The Korean society has gone through a dramatic change in its population, with rapidly increasing number of multicultural families through international marriages since 1990s. This study investigated the differences between multicultural families and Korean families in three areas related to dietary behaviors: diet-related behaviors and perception, and food preferences. A cross-sectional analysis was performed in 500 Koreans from Korean families and 104 couples from the multicultural families with Vietnamese wives. More subjects from multicultural families grew up in the countryside, received less education and also had lower income than the subjects from Korean families. Multicultural families ate traditional Korean meals more often at home and dined out less often than Korean families. The multicultural families focused more attention on nutritional aspects of their diets than Korean families. The Vietnamese wives in multicultural families favored Vietnamese foods but they rarely ate those foods in Korea despite an easy accessibility to Vietnamese ingredients. In conclusion, the multicultural families had more traditional Korean dietary patterns than Korean families, which could have been influenced by their socioeconomic factors. Further research with a quantitative analysis is needed in future studies to understand the effect of dietary patterns on nutritional status and quality of life in multicultural and Korean families.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.109-122
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• 2010

The present study aims to investigate cultural similarities and differences that influence interracial couples (between Korean men and Vietnamese women) when adapting to Korean family culture in terms of interculturalism. The interviewees consisted of three generations. This study used in-depth interviews. Data was collected from January to August 2008. 15 families (45 people) were used for analysis. Results were as follows: (1) the patriarchal culture of the two nations had a positive influence on the adaptation of members during family interactions(2) the culture of filial piety is a value system that both nations believe is important. However, different rituals had a negative influence on the practice of filial piety (3) the community-oriented culture is regarded as important in the two nations. However, Vietnamese wives cannot lead a free community life because Koreans see them in negative terms (4) the Vietnamese traditional wedding custom called "NopJjeOh" had a negative influence on the adaptation to the Korean family culture (5) the preference for sons in Vietnam is not as high as in Korea. This difference had a negative influence on adaptation (6) clear differences between the daily lives of the two nations had a negative influence on adaptation to Korean family culture. In conclusion, Korea and Vietnam have many similarities in culture, which enable Vietnamese wives to adapt to Korean culture more easily than other foreign wives. If various programs are developed to promote the mutual understanding between both cultures based on these research findings, it would further contribute toward social integration in Korea.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.75
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• pp.43-79
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• 2016

An increase in the number of immigrants to Korea since the late 1980s' has signified the proliferation of globalization and global capitalism. In Korea, most married immigrants are women, as the culture emphasizes patrilineage and the stability of the institution of marriage, particularly in rural areas. Immigrant women have experienced dual ordeals. The Aogra Internet community in Korea has been one of the most representative sites that has shown the power of communities in cyberspace since 2002, leading the discussion of social issues and deliberative democracy both online and offline. This paper analyzed Koreans' writings (such as long comments) on immigrant women in the Agora community. The analysis revealed the following results: first, immigrant women were referred to using terms related to prostitution, with excessive expression of disgust, which is called a "narrative of identity." Second, anti-multiculturalists called Korean men victims of married immigrant women and expressed hatred toward immigrant women, which is called a "narrative of sacrifice." Third, anti-multiculturalists justified their emotions as just resentment based on ideas of justice, equality, and patriotism, concealing the emotion of disgust, which is called the "narrative of justice, equality." Fourth, antimulticulturalists played roles to spread the emotion of disgust, by repeatedly referring to international marriage fraud and immigrant workers' crimes, which is called "narrative of crime." Fifth, some positive writings on immigrant women were based on empathy(a concept defined in this context by Martha Nussbaum), but they can be analyzed as narratives encouraging cultural integration through the perspective of orientalism. Therefore, comments on immigrant women in the Agora represent a "catch-22" dilemma. To deal with conflicts arising from disgust and violations of human rights, civic education focusing on humanism is needed in this multicultural era.

• Journal of Ethics
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• no.80
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• pp.51-77
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• 2011

This study aims to explore how to establish any foundation of the value of the unification of the Korean Peninsula in multicultural society of Korea. Its main issue is related to Korean identity of a nation and its shared value among the mulitcultural members, in particular, of North Koreans including defectors, foreign workers, and immigrants of international marriage and their children. For this study, I would utilize a given research of the application of two concepts of culture to multicultural levels by criticizing its limit; as an alternative, furthermore, I would pay attention to the possibility of the concept of emotion in multicultural members. A short feature in a given study of two conceptions of culture in a multicultural society is as follows: the first is to regard it as the patterns of meanings and symbols, which is very useful to understand others or other culture; secondly, to see it as the lasting process of perfection in human life, which makes us recognize ourselves as a member, so to speak, identity. In application it to Korean muliticultural members, however, there are crucial and complicated problems according to the cases of their lives. For North Koreans, firstly, they tend to get the conception of Korean identity in terms of ideological policies and education of North Korean government. This means that they have a strong hatred towards the word multiculture, in the level of recognizing the self-culture. Secondly, North Korean defectors also have the recognition of the self-culture, but their serious problem is discriminative treatments by South Korean in terms of socio-economics, in the process of their settlement. Thirdly, parents and their children in multicultural family can have their identity as Korean. In parents, however, the level is double that they can have both identities of Korean as well as of their countries. The foundation, therefore, of the value of the unification in the Korean Peninsula is closely related to the issue of identity as Korean. To recognize it, it is possible only to consider and reflect all members' lives by applying the dual conceptions of culture to their multicultural lives. That is not of outer system, but of inner, relational and cultural emotion, which enables them to share their common value of unification.