Foreign Men

A few years ago, oh my god, almost 10! I met a guy from the US Army when I was in Korea who counselled soldiers who wanted to get married to local girls. He told me that 95% of marriages between the soldiers and Korean women ended in divorce and so it was army policy to try and talk the soldier out of it. It brings up a number of interesting questions and I have seen other internet discussions about general relationships between Korean women and foreign, mostly of the white variety, men and I find this very interesting. In fact San Nakji was talking to his better half only last night about this. The question is really two fold. The first is, Why are there so many relationships between Korean women and western men and the second is, Why is the divorce rate so high?
When San Nakji's wife was younger, she and all her friends had this idea that the perfect man was a White Man, probably from USA. They felt that these men would treat women better and understand them much more than the average Korean man would. There seems to be a mistique surrounding the white man in Korea (most East Asian nations to be fair)and it is no wonder that a certain type of male has appeared, which Space Nakji calls, the Creepy White Guy (CWG). The CWG, or as we used to call him at Uni, Neil (long story!), is a particular type of guy who lusts after Asian women. Mostly he does this because the women in his own country wouldn't give him the time of day. They certainly haven't built up a cult around him! Generally his interest in the country the girl is from is fleeting as he is more interested in scoring. He will quite happily talk about his conquests and will start to make out like he is the greatest stud in the world. The problem is that he ain't. More of a problem is that once a Korean woman goes out with a western guy for any length of time, they will realise that a guy is just a guy is just a guy. Yup, sorry ladies. western guys are just likely to leave the seat up, not clean up around the house and beat up their wives. This is the reason for the high divorce rate. After a while the Korean woman will realise that actually they have nothing in common, the whole relationship was based on a myth and now that myth is dispelled there is nothing to keep it going. Believe it or not you do actually have to have things that you can share to have a relationship, I know, it is hard to accept. The CWG has nothing to offer and is soon found out!
Media in both the east and the west have a lot to answer for by helping promote these stereotypes. For eastern media it is the dashing white guy and in the west it is the exotic, feminine and always available oriental girl. When it comes down to it, there are only men and women in this world. Racial differences are purely coincidental..

San Nakji for President!