在韩国，离婚是一件非常容易的事情。男女双方只要签好离婚文件再缴付几美元，就能当场离婚。路透社24日撰文形象地比喻说，在韩国，离婚比看一场电影还要便宜、快捷。
星期一上午是韩国法院离婚受理处一周中最忙碌的时候。许多夫妻来到法院，要求结束他们的婚姻关系。
韩国大田家庭法院协议离婚受理室的法官柳在博（译音）告诉记者，“许多夫妇周末发生口角，星期一就愤怒地赶过来要求离婚”。他认为，“他们需要协商，而不是草率离婚”。每个星期一上午，许多面带怒容的夫妻冲进法院，每个人都带着不得不离婚的理由——他们互相埋怨对方家庭里让人讨厌的亲戚，女人们抱怨丈夫永远都不能挣到足够多的薪水，男人们则责怪妻子花钱大手大脚，让他们囊中羞涩。也有一些法官试图劝阻这些冲动的夫妻，但他们不具备法律效力的努力往往徒劳无功。
在韩国，离婚费用相当低廉，仅需要几千韩元（约合几美元）。因为实在“便宜”，法院通常不向离婚双方收取这笔费用。而离婚手续也相当迅速，一旦双方在离婚书上签好字，婚姻关系立马解除。
韩国人不再把离婚看作是羞耻的事情。这种观念给了一些夫妇走出围城的勇气。韩国的婚姻法也成了离婚率趋高的“帮凶”。相关法律让夫妻能够想离就离。因为在韩国，办理离婚手续比看一场夜间电影还便宜，耗时也更短。
几个原因的共同作用，使韩国成为亚洲离婚率最高的国家之一。2003年韩国离婚率达到47．4％。
(A couple pose for their wedding photos in Seoul June 22, 2006. Monday morning is the busiest time of the week at divorce courts in South Korea as couples queue to end their marriages after bouts of weekend bickering. Photo: Reuters)
Monday morning is the busiest time of the week at divorce courts in South Korea as couples queue to end their marriages after bouts of weekend bickering.
"Too many angry couples come to court for a divorce after an argument erupted over the weekend," Judge Yoo Jae-bok of the Taejon Family Court told Reuters.
"They need counseling, not an on-the-spot divorce." On Monday mornings in particular, angry couples storm into divorce courts with tales of annoying relatives, husbands they complain will never earn decent salaries and wives accused of bleeding bank accounts dry.
The couples are given forms and clerks are on hand to help them fill in the paperwork.
The fee is just a few thousand won (a few dollars), a paltry sum often waived by the courts, and the divorce can take effect immediately, the moment the papers are signed.
The number of divorces in South Korea has almost doubled since 1995. Social stigmas that used to make couples reluctant to break up have faded as the country has become more prosperous and less bound by tradition.
Compounding the problem is a divorce law that enables couples to end their marriages on a whim. Getting a divorce can take less time and is cheaper than a night at the movies.
But some judges want to put an end to a quick and easy divorce procedure they say has caused South Korea's divorce rate to become one of the highest in Asia.
"We judges can do something in our courts to reduce these types of divorces," Yoo said.
COOLING OFF
Yoo is among a group of judges in South Korea who are trying to lower the divorce rate by making couples observe a cooling-off period to consider the implications of a divorce on children and relatives before they can end their marriage.
The judges demand that some couples seek counseling before calling it quits or at least wait a week or two before signing the paperwork.
It appears their efforts might be having some impact. The number of divorces in South Korea, which stood at 68,300 in 1995 and rose to 157,100 in 2003, has begun to drop. In 2005 there were 128,500 divorces in the country of almost 49 million people.
But the unofficial, sometimes unorthodox efforts of South Korean judges can be in vain as they are not enshrined in law.
"I asked one couple to think about their decision for a week, and the man started shouting at me and blaming me and stormed out saying he would find another judge," Yoo recounted.
Ruling party lawmaker Lee Eun-young hopes to put the full force of the law behind judges' efforts to help couples reconcile before it is too late.
She submitted a bill in November 2005 that would require most couples to wait three months after submitting papers in court before the divorce came through. The legislation is expected to be presented to parliament at the end of the year.
"We desperately need a cool-down policy to stop married couples from facing a sudden catastrophe by deciding on a hasty divorce. We have to protect the welfare of their children," she wrote in her proposed legislation.
