For men living outside Korea’s major cities, finding someone to marry can be difficult. In rural areas, it can be even harder.

Years ago, relatives, neighbors, and friends often helped introduce single men and women. But many of those traditional matchmaking networks have faded away.

At the same time, more young people have moved to larger cities for school and work, leaving singles in rural communities with fewer opportunities to meet potential partners.

For some rural men, international marriage has become another option.

I have always had mixed feelings about this.

There have been successful international marriages, but there have also been serious problems. At the same time, we cannot ignore the issue that led many rural men to consider international marriage in the first place: sometimes, there simply aren’t enough opportunities to meet someone locally.

I once met a man in his late thirties who raised cattle in Jeolla Province in Korea.

“I’m giving this one last try,” he told me. “If it doesn’t work, I’m going to consider marrying someone from overseas.”

When I met him, I realized that he was doing quite well for himself.

He earned around $100,000 a year, had a large amount of land, and raised nearly 100 cattle. Financially, he was more secure than many office workers in Seoul.

But there was one thing working against him.

He lived in the countryside.

That alone made finding a spouse much more difficult.

I asked him,

“What’s your house like?”

“I built it a few years ago. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a decent house.”

“If a woman from the city were willing to move there, would you be open to making some changes so she could feel comfortable living there?”

“Absolutely.”

I told him,

“If you’re already thinking about looking overseas, let’s make one more serious effort to find someone in Korea. But instead of waiting for someone to come along, we’ll actively look for women who might genuinely be open to the kind of life you have.”

We reached out to around 2,000 female members in their early to mid-thirties.

We were upfront about everything.

He lived in the countryside. He raised cattle for a living. He was financially stable. And anyone who married him would need to be comfortable with a lifestyle that was different from life in the city.

Then we asked if they would be interested in meeting him.

About ten women said yes.

From those ten, we selected three who seemed especially compatible and introduced them to him.

I have to admit, I wasn’t very optimistic.

For someone accustomed to city life, moving to a rural area is a big decision. It affects not only where you live, but also your career, social life, daily routine, and sometimes even your relationship with family and friends.

A few months later, I asked the Couple Manager who had been working with him,

“Whatever happened to the cattle farmer?”

“He’s still dating one of the women. He’s going to meet her parents over the holidays.”

That caught me by surprise.

A match that had seemed unlikely was turning into a serious relationship.

The old image of the unmarried “rural bachelor” may also be changing.

Transportation has improved, roads are better, and rural communities are becoming more connected to cities. As the gap between urban and rural life changes, perhaps the way people think about where a future spouse lives can change as well.

This man had nearly 100 cattle, a good income, and a stable life that he had built through years of hard work.

Yet finding someone to marry had been difficult largely because he did not live in Seoul or another major city.

If all you saw was his address, you might have passed him by.

But if you looked at the life he had built, you saw something very different: a hardworking, responsible man who had created a stable future for himself.

The challenges facing single men in rural and regional communities should not be treated as something international marriage alone can solve.

Sometimes the problem is not that there is no one suitable to marry.

It is that two people who might be right for each other have never had the chance to meet.