韓國高學歷“剩女”難嫁 只能求助婚介所

If you are thirty-plus and a woman with a masters degree in South Korea, you may need the help of a matchmaker to find love -- and your worried mother may even end up doing the legwork for you.

As women in this rich Asian country have become better educated, with five times as many now getting advanced degrees as in 1995, they have also become more choosy and are less likely to settle for the role of meek spouse traditionally expected of Korean women.

"I heard if you are a female with master's degree, it is much harder to arrange a meeting than if you have a bachelors degree because of an unfavorable perception toward 'too smart women' here," said Lee, 24, a college senior in Seoul who wished to be known only by her last name.

The age at which Korean women are getting hitched has risen by an average 4.1 years over the past 20 years to 28.9 years, according to Statistics Korea, and that has created plenty of worried mothers getting things rolling for their daughters.

"My daughter is in her early 30's, an age considered late for marriage here", said a woman in her mid 50s who wished to be identified only by her surname Ahn and who took her daughter to one of the many match-making agencies in Seoul.

"I was worried that if she does not find her match this year, it will be much more difficult to marry in the coming years, so I went to the firm with her and made her join."

At DUO, a matchmaking firm, its 26,000 members can choose between five different membership programs with fees from 1.08 million won ($971) to 8.8 million won.

In a bid to attract clients, the site displays the average annual income of its male and female customers, as well as statistics on their professional standing.

"In a privately set up blind date, you cannot be entirely sure of how much of personal information given to you is accurate," said DUO spokesman Yon Jun.

Critics say the industry prioritizes income, status and materialism. Local wags have coined the phrase "employage" to sum up employment and marriage.

"If your father works in the financial industry or is a high-ranking administrator, you will find your match with similar backgrounds through a matchmaking firm, starting a perfect marriage on the back of parental support," said comedian Choi Hyo-jong, a presenter on a local satirical show called "the Wart's Kindergarten".如果你是一個三十多歲的韓國女碩士，那麼你可能需要媒人的幫助才能找到愛情，你那憂心忡忡的媽媽甚至可能親自跑腿給你物色對象。

隨着這個富裕的亞洲國家的女性教育程度的提高，她們對擇偶也變得更挑剔，不甘於做溫順的傳統韓國女人。如今韓國的高學歷女性人數是1995年的五倍。

一位不願透露名字的首爾大學生李小姐說：“我聽說，如果你是一位女碩士，那麼給你安排一次相親會比女本科生難得多，因爲在這裏人們對‘太聰明的女人’沒有什麼好感。”李小姐今年24歲，正在讀大四。

韓國統計局的數據顯示，韓國女性現在的平均結婚年齡爲28.9歲，在過去20年內增加了4.1歲。這使得許多母親爲嫁女兒操碎了心。

55歲左右的安女士曾帶自己的女兒去找過首爾衆多婚介機構中的一家。她說：“我女兒現在三十出頭，就找對象來說在這裏已經被認爲是很晚了。”

“我擔心如果她今年找不到對象，明後年就會更難嫁出去，所以我就和她一起去婚介所，讓她加入成爲會員。”

在婚介公司DUO，它的2.6萬名會員可以選擇價位從108萬韓元（971美元）到880萬韓元的五種不同的會員套餐。

爲了吸引客戶，該婚介網站會展示男女客戶的平均年收入，以及職業身份方面的資料。

DUO的發言人永駿說：“在私人安排的相親中，你無法完全確定給你的個人信息有多少是準確的。”

批評人士稱，婚介行業把收入、地位和物質放在第一位。當地喜歡說笑的人還造出了僱傭和婚姻的合成詞employage。

喜劇演員蔡孝鍾（音譯）說：“如果你的父親在金融行業工作，或他是一個位高權重的管理者，你會通過婚介公司找到門當戶對的對象，在父母的支持下走進完美的婚姻。”蔡孝鍾是當地諷刺類節目“缺點幼兒園”的主持人。