Matchmaking?

Matchmaking?

Matchmaking is the process of introducing a couple as potential partners in marriage. People in diverse cultures, past and present, have sought assistance from matchmakers because they may have a deeper understanding of human character, a wider connection to acquaintances, and greater knowledge and experience to help someone choose a marriage partner. The increase in popularity of "love matches" based on romantic and physical attraction, together with a loosening of the restrictions on behavior and decline in arranged marriages, led to a decline in the use of matchmakers with young people turning to various social situations to find prospective partners. Technological advances, however, have seen the re-emergence of the matchmaking process, as computers and the internet became popular tools in the search for an ideal mate. Ultimately, though, the involvement of more than technology is necessary to guide people to find a partner with whom they can build a harmonious relationship leading to a loving family, based on not only the physical but also the spiritual aspects of their lives.

SEOUL — Sitting in his office crammed with files and boxes, Lee Woong Jin, a 42-year-old entrepreneur, talks enthusiastically about his latest moneymaking plan: merging the age-old Korean matchmaking traditions with the vibrant South Korean Internet culture.

South Korean birth rate being among the lowest in the world, demographic experts are casting friendlier looks on these agencies, which are banned from advertising their service on television.

"Our low birth rate is more than a crisis and it's because fewer people get married," said Cho Nam Hoon, director of the Center for Low Fertility and Aging Studies. "The government should encourage the matchmaking industry. Perhaps it should start its own matchmaking service."

Marriage is becoming an option, not a rite of passage, among South Koreans, with more men insecure about their jobs, and more women favoring work outside the home over child-rearing. In 2005, a majority of South Koreans in their 20s and 30s - 51 percent - were unmarried, 5 percentage points higher than in 2000.

In old Korea, where Confucian mores frowned on the mingling of the sexes, young people were brought together by matchmakers, usually old women in their villages. Many elderly Koreans remember meeting their mates for the second, or even first, time on their wedding day.

Some critics decry the proliferation of computerized matchmaking services like Lee's, saying the services encourage marriage only between people with similar social backgrounds and reinforce the stereotype that a rich man gets a beauty. But their apparent success testifies to the booming South Korean matchmaking industry.

There are more than 1,000 dating agencies in South Korea. They include one-person operations known by their slightly disparaging nickname "Madame Tu," or Madame Pimp. These typically middle-aged women seek out top graduates of prestigious universities and single doctors and lawyers and introduce them to rich families with eligible sons and daughters. Then there are the corporations like Lee's Sunoo. These big agencies produce over 1,000 married couples a year and increasingly rely on computerized data.