hankyoreh

Six years ago, K wrapped up his 34-year career as a civil servant and began to receive his pension, amounting to 3 million won (US$2,838) a month. Last year, his wife filed for divorce.

For the 32 years they were married, K would cause problems for his wife time and time again - heavy drinking, verbal and physical abuse, relationships with other women - and then apologize. In 2011, K and his wife started living separately.

Last month, Changwon Local Court approved the couple’s divorce and ordered K to pay his wife 50% of his pension. “The husband bears the primary guilt for the breakup of the marriage. If his wife had not done the housework and looked after the children, he could not have worked as a civil servant. Even if he had, he would have had to pay a substantial amount of money,” the court said.

In 2013, the elderly divorce rate was higher than ever before. According to the 2014 yearly judicial audit published by the Supreme Court on Oct. 22, 115,292 couples got divorced last year, and for 32,433 of these couples the divorce came after 20 or more years of marriage.

The number of elderly divorces has been steadily increasing. There were 28,261 in 2009, 27,823 in 2010, 28,299 in 2011, and 30,234 in 2012. In contrast, early divorces among couples who have been married five years or less have been falling each year, with 33,718 in 2009, 31,528 in 2010, 30,689 in 2011, 28,204 in 2012, and 27,299 in 2013.

The percentage of total divorced elderly couples has risen over the past five years from 22.8% to 28.1%. Over the same period, the percentage of total divorces that took place among couples married five years or less dropped from 27.2% to 23.7%.

Elderly divorces have been increasing because people no longer believe they have to just put up with their spouses and also because, as people live longer, they feel a stronger desire to seek a new life in their old age, analysts suggest.

In the past, women were often hesitant to consider divorce because of financial concerns. Now, though, with courts assigning a high value to housework and childcare when dividing up a couple’s assets, women have a greater motivation to go ahead with divorce.

In July 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that future severance payments and pension should also be considered in the division of assets.

“When assets are inherited upon the death of the husband, the wife receives a very small share. But if the two get divorced, she can receive around 40%. In some divorce proceedings, the children convinced their mother to file for divorce after the father tried to leave all of his money to his favorite child,” said a judge who works in family law.

By Lee Kyung-mi, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]