초록
The aim of this paper is to examine the demographic characteristics and the attitude about marriage and the policy of the unmarried male farmers. The contents of research are two folds: 1) Analyze the marriage related demographic statistics of rural area using the data from Korea Statistical Information System and marriage statistics in 2007, 2) survey analyses of the attitude toward marriage, perception and needs of international marriage, and related policies from data of 170 unmarried male farmers. The results are as follows: first, the marriage rates among over 15 years old of the rural area is 78.2% for men while 1.8% for 20${\sim}$24 age group and 9.3% for 25${\sim}$29 age group. The marriage rates in this area are varied by region especially low in Kyunggido & Jejudo. Second, the portion of international marriages of Korean male farmers with foreign partner are 11% among all international marriages of Korean males. There are high rates of male farmers' international marriage in Junranamdo and Kyungsangbukdo which are characterized by low level of urbanization, low inter-city mobility, low rates of age group of under 15 years and high portion of over age 65. Finally, the survey results showed that 83% of the sample lived with their parents; event though 80% of farmers think marriage is necessary, 60% had no plan of marriage because of difficulties to meet marriage partners and of lacking economic resources; they showed a negative perception toward the handicapped, foreigners, Afro-Americans, Westerners and divorcees as a marriage partner; they also showed negative recognition to international marriage because of observed problems of neighboring international marriage couples and concerns of cultural differences; they pointed out that the government's concern about improving quality of the environment of the rural area and reforming the international marriage aid law was the most necessary. The discussion and the future research directions were added.