Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

ARTICLE: Baby Boom of Mixed Children Tests South Korea, By MARTIN FACKLER, Washington Post, November 28, 2009

Japan would do well to take note and learn from South Korea on this one in the short run, and China should do the same over the longer run:

The surge in births of mixed children is the product of the similarly explosive growth here in marriages to foreigners, as a surplus of bachelors and the movement of eligible women to big cities like Seoul have increasingly driven Korean men in rural areas to seek brides in poorer parts of Asia. In addition, a preference for male babies has helped skew the population so there are fewer native-born women to marry. The Ministry of Public Security says the total number of children from what are called multicultural families in South Korea rose to 107,689 in May of this year from 58,007 last December, though the ministry said it might have slightly undercounted last year.

That is only about 1 percent of the approximately 12 million children in South Korea under the age of 19. But if marriages to foreigners continue to increase at their current rate -- they accounted for 11 percent of all marriages here last year -- more than one in nine children could be of mixed background by 2020, demographic researchers say.

The trend is even more pronounced in rural areas, where most of these marriages take place.

Unbelievable stuff, I know. Up to now I figured the only thing you could do with unmarried males was pack them into the military and start WWIV!

But it turns out they just want to get married and have babies, and they go outside their culture if they have to do it. And when they do, another interesting form of globalization results . . ..

Ah, but I'm such a naive romantic. Maybe the kids will grow up and start WWIV.

Alas, some South Koreans perceive a simple logic at work here:

"The hard reality of our low birthrate is forcing us to realize that we can't be homogeneous anymore," said Park Hwa-seo, a professor of migration studies at Myongji University in Seoul. "It isn't easy, but there is no turning back but to embrace these more diverse families."

Hmm. Hard to believe.