Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to Investigate 'Country-Specific Brokerage Fees' in International Marriages

Survey on the Current Status of Marriage Brokerage Businesses Conducted

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced on the 23rd that it will conduct the "2023 Marriage Brokerage Industry Survey" until the 31st of next month.

The Marriage Brokerage Industry Survey is a nationally approved statistic conducted every three years to understand the operational status of marriage brokerage businesses and cases of user damage. It is used as basic data for policy establishment aimed at preventing user harm and fostering a desirable marriage culture by identifying the status and issues of marriage brokerage companies and users.

This survey will be conducted targeting marriage brokerage companies and users, and the results are scheduled to be announced in the first half of next year. The survey method is face-to-face interviews, and when surveyors visit sampled companies, they will provide guidance on the survey using official documents from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, surveyor identification cards, and information leaflets.

In this survey, the basic framework of the survey content to identify the status and issues of marriage brokerage companies and users will be maintained, but additional investigation will be conducted on changes in the marriage brokerage industry over the past three years due to environmental changes such as COVID-19 since the 2020 survey.

In particular, the survey includes items to identify the status of brokerage fees by country to promote the task of "Creating a Healthy International Marriage Environment," which is part of the "4th Basic Plan for Multicultural Family Policy (2023?2027)." Additionally, as cases of damage related to the use of marriage brokerage services have diversified, the survey items were designed with a focus on subdividing damage types to analyze in depth the causes and patterns of damage occurrence, damage relief, and to prepare alternatives for damage prevention.

Lee Gi-soon, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, stated, "Since this survey will serve as the basis for future related policies, we ask for the active participation of domestic and international marriage brokerage companies and users to ensure the smooth progress of the survey." He added, "Based on the results of this survey, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will promote institutional improvements to prevent human rights violations and user damages occurring during the international marriage brokerage process and to establish a sound marriage brokerage culture."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.