March 27, 2024
SEOUL – As seen on popular YouTube channels featuring happy couples as well as heartwarming drama series like “Eye Love You,” Korean men and Japanese women are increasingly finding love.
In 2023, there were 840 marriages registered here between Korean men and Japanese women, marking a 40.1 percent surge from the 599 recorded in 2022, according to Statistics Korea.
While such marriages still only constitute a small portion of the total number of marriages of Korean nationals to a spouse of foreign nationality — 19,700 in 2023 — the rise is notable as it outpaced the increase rate of marriages to partners from other countries.
Korean content industry insiders say the trend is partly being fueled by the rise of popular YouTube channels featuring couples made up of Korean men and Japanese women.
These channels, such as Tomo Tomo with 1.03 million subscribers, Jeju-Couple with 537,000 subscribers and Kuki Couple with 350,000 subscribers as of Tuesday, offer positive portrayals of Korean-Japanese relationships.
Recent Japanese drama series “Eye Love You,” which began airing on TBS in January and is also available on Netflix, has further contributed to this trend. The 10-episode series ranked among the top 10 on Netflix in Japan for five weeks.
The recent improvement in the perception of South Korea in Japan, coinciding with the enhancement of diplomatic relations, is another factor. According to a February survey conducted by Japan’s Nikkei financial newspaper among 1,607 Japanese adults, 37 percent expressed a favorable view of South Korea, marking a significant increase from the 14 percent recorded during the previous Moon Jae-in administration.
Marriages between Korean women and Japanese men, however, remain relatively rare. In 2023, there were 143 such marriages registered, ranking them the seventh most common of all international marriages involving a Korean woman. This number represents a slight increase from 2022’s 125, but is similar to 2021’s 140.
Meanwhile, Korean men marrying Vietnamese women remained the most common type of international marriage involving a Korean national.
In 2023, such marriages increased by 48.3 percent, or 1,604, followed by Korean men marrying Japanese women. Marriages of Korean men with Filipina women, the third most common international marriage involving a Korean national, saw an increase of 23.6 percent, at 120.