Poll finds 60 pct of marriage immigrants satisfied with local life

SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) -- More than six out of 10 marriage immigrants here
expressed satisfaction at living in South Korea, a poll showed Friday.
In the survey by the Justice Ministry of 1,006 foreigners here married to Korean
spouses, 62.1 percent said they are satisfied with living here, while 77.8
percent said they would recommend marriage with Koreans to their families and
relatives back home.
The respondents then rated the level of their satisfaction at 6.8 points on a
scale of 10, ministry officials involved in the poll said.
Over 30 percent of the expatriates said they met their Korean spouses through
marriage brokers, with the percentage particularly high among Cambodians (70.7
percent), Uzbeks (58.1 percent) and Vietnamese (51.2 percent), they said.
Nearly 60 percent of the marriage immigrants singled out the language barrier as
their biggest problem here, while 8.8 percent put their fingers on bias and
discrimination.
The poll also found that over 80 percent of them are eager to acquire Korean
citizenship to gain better education for their children and find better jobs.
As of June, about 126,000 marriage immigrants were living in South Korea,
according to ministry data.
brk@yna.co.kr
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