Most S. Korean singles open to int'l romance: poll

Nearly nine in 10 young South Korean singles don't mind dating foreign men and women, a poll showed Friday, demonstrating the younger generation's increasingly open-minded stance on romance.
  
In the survey of 425 singles in their 20s and 30s, 87.3 percent responded that they could have a romantic relationship with foreigners, according to the Seoul-based matchmaking company DUO.
  
Comparable figures for men and women came to 88.9 percent and 85.8 percent, respectively.
  
"International couples are becoming a trend these days, following the marriage between South Korean director Kim Tae-yong and Chinese actress Tang Wei, as well as the romantic relationship between South Korean actor Song Seung-heon and Chinese American actress Liu Yifei," said an official from DUO.
  
"It seems that a lot of single men and women here are showing an interest in people with different cultural and social backgrounds," the DUO official said.

In July last year, the Chinese sweetheart Tang Wei made headlines here after she and her now-husband, Kim, made a surprise announcement on their decision to tie the knot.
  
More recently, South Korean heartthrob Song admitted through his agency earlier this month that he is currently dating the 27-year-old Liu after the two had met on the set of a Chinese romance flick.
  
Of the men who said they consider foreigners as possible dates, 30.4 percent said the strong point is that they don't need to play games since their partners would be more upfront about their feelings, according to the survey.
  
For women, 37.2 percent said a more unique physical appearance, as opposed to their male compatriots, would be one of the merits in dating foreigners.
  
More than half of the respondents, on the other hand, said it would be hard to pursue a relationship with someone outside of their culture due to difficulties in communicating. Other obstacles such as fighting over cultural disparities and complications in immigrating and obtaining visas trailed at 14.8 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively.
  
South Koreans' view on international marriage has also been shifting over the past few years in this country, where the dating scene has a relatively more conservative atmosphere than in other countries.
  
In a similar study by Statistics Korea, 23.9 percent of people in their 20s said they completely favor the idea of international marriage in 2012, up 6.4 percentage points from two years before, while the figure for people in their 30s stood at 22.1 percent, up 6.2 percentage points. (Yonhap)