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Matchmaking firms booming 

The matchmaking business in Korea, estimated to be worth 860 billion won last year, has been expanding rapidly since 1991 when the country`s first dating agency, Sunoo, was launched. Following Sunoo`s footsteps, Duo, the largest dating service, opened its first branch in 1995. Also well known in the marriage market are Piery and Daks Club.

One couple contacted by The Korea Herald were happy about the way their computerized match turned out but declined to be identified by name or discuss in detail how they chose each other. Other couples were reticent even to talk about how they felt.

The rapid spread of marriage information centers has made many, mainly older, Koreans question why these matchmaking companies are in such high demand, changing the traditional way of marriage arrangement, known as seon, in which individual matchmakers play the go-between.

First, matchmaking companies offer a number of advantages over traditional matchmaking brokers. The cost of arranged marriages by a dating service is relatively lower than what matchmaking brokers, or ttujaengyi, charge. Customers have more options than provided by traditional matchmaking, which depends heavily on prospective couples` regional bases.

Additionally, marriage information companies maintain extensive databases, enabling consumers to see all sorts of information about a potential partner on a Web site before going on a date.

For example, Sunoo has a patented member matching system. "The system is scientifically engineered to precisely manage members all over the world. The system allows members to easily review the personal profile of other members who have been already matched by couple managers. The system also enables members to search for his or her match and propose a blind date directly," said Yim Seon-young, a publicist at Sunoo.

Seeking to build more accurate databases, matchmaking companies are competitively adopting scientific management and psychological tactics. Membership documents for setting up a database include specific details about an individual, his or her family and cousins. Candidates are asked to answer 150 questions concerning their financial, educational and family status, appearance and job, all of which show the marketability of a person ready for marriage.

By demanding such detail, marriage information companies can screen out people lacking solid backgrounds from membership. in the companies. For instance, a male applicant engaged in car sales after graduating from a university in Seoul has been unable to gain membership. Physical attributes considered unattractive, such as baldness, may also prevent a person from membership. So, "the richer get richer" principle inevitably appears to prevail: financially well-off and good-looking people have the best chances, while the have-nots fail to benefit from the scientific matching system.

Some agencies specialize in customer groups made up of high-income professionals like doctors, lawyers and accountants, venture entrepreneurs and finance professionals. This is causing some concern that one negative side of traditional matchmaking - people not getting a broader swath of choice - may become more preval!ent in the corporate matchmaking system.

The mushrooming marriage industry also has made many members of marriage information centers see themselves as products, which inevitably has made the competition for better partners fiercer.

Some men unable to qualify for listing on marriage information services have started searching for partners in other counties such as Vietnam, which has spawned another type of marriage information companies. For instance, ING Marriage Information Co. Ltd. offers matching links between Korean men and Vietnamese women and sends groups of Korean men to Vietnam to choose spouses from a pool of young Vietnamese women.

"As people value professional life and become busier, the need for appropriate data and matchmaking services will grow," Yim, the Sunoo publicist, forecast.

Lee Jae-kyung, professor of Women`s Studies at Ewha Womans University, noted matchmaking companies have contributed to successful unions but prompted the phenomenon of marriage more often than not now being viewed as a materialistic exchange. 

"Personal characteristics which cannot be mathematically reduced get priced and fixed by marriage information companies. In that sense, making membership accessible to a wider range of people will not be helpful, because the structure won`t change," she said.