Online Dating Sites - Lovesites

I recently came across this Korean dating service Duo.co.kr from a post on Online Personals Watch and it looks like matchmaking is booming big time in South Korea even with the global economic crisis we are facing.

Young Korean singles are rushing into marriage and women without jobs are finding financial security in married life. Duo.co.kr has seen the number of visitors jump to 35,000 in the second week of November 2008 from 23,800 in the first week of September 2008. Another leading Korean matchmaker service, Sunoo, experienced a two-fold increase over the same period. Wedian reported a whopping eight-time surge over a month starting October 22, 2008. Many Korean parents have signed up for the services because they want to get their children married off while fathers are still in work.

South Korea was hit by the East Asian financial crisis in 1997-1998. I was visiting Korea with my mother at this time who is from Korea and the country was in turmoil and the same concerns were expressed by parents to find financial stability in their children’s lives. In South Korea, it is customary for guests to bring envelopes of cash to marriages to help finance the costly event. The names of the contributors are carefully recorded to return the favor on similar occasions. Koreans have held the tradition of matchmaking for centuries and is still widespread culturally througout Korea, especially in the upper class.

Wealth and social status of the families involved, the occupations of grooms and brides and even their physical appearances are weighed carefully by traditional matchmaking agencies before they arrange meetings with the families.

The DUO website was established in February, 1995 under the slogan of “Creating a new matchmaking culture” and invested in preparing marketing research for six months and building a database system for one and a half years.

In the initial stage of company’s existence, it was difficult for them to break through preconceived ideas of the general public because of negative images about matchmaker and marriage agencies. DUO has since earned the public trust by concentrating on their concept and distinction of a marriage information service.

DUO has held a top position in the Korean dating industry in size/scale, public confidence, and customer service and has a database size over 40,000 members. They conduct strict and thorough pre-screening based on 150 categorized data points with nationwide networking. They even have an extended member connection with the US through the LA Korean community.

DUO also has built several connecting services into their matchmaking portfolio with a service for people that have been married and divorced and are back in the dating scene and a site that helps you plan your wedding once you have found a partner.

DuoReMarry.com – for the second time around singles with relationship advice and tips.
DuoWed.com – Wedding Planning site once you have met your soulmate.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they extended their service to Japan which has a lot of cultural similarities. If you are an American that is interested in Korean men or women then you should learn how to read Korean before using the site as it is very ethno-centric for Korean users only.

How much does it cost to be a DUO member? Get ready for this one…They have a membership called “First Marriage” that costs you $1,500 for 8 meetings, profiles offered unlimited and if you have positive feedback then 2 bonus meetings.

Related Article on Korean Matchmaking:
Korean matchmaking tradition goes high-tech