Korean divorce law still adheres to fault-based divorce. According to a majority of the Supreme Court, the main reason for not admitting a no-fault policy is that the preconditions for systems for financially protecting the spouse and children after divorce have not yet been satisfied in Korea. However, there is not much time left, so we must use this golden time for preparing protective measures for divorced women and their children, through legislative efforts. Re-conceptualizing pension entitlements as the object of property division through Court rulings and legislation deserves to be highly evaluated. It is also noteworthy that a belated but wise establishment of the state agency to enforce child support obligations and its soft landing may be seen.

In the past decade there has been a remarkable cross-national convergence in the experience, research, and reaction to the "Divorce Revolution." As each country has experienced spiralling divorce rates and has adopted more liberal rules for divorce, it has begun to be concerned about the social and economic consequences of these changes. The twenty-six eminent contributors to this volume investigate how the new laws work in practice, analyze the societal effects of rapid change, and grapple with the policy implications of their results.

It may sound logical that individualistic attitudes boost divorce. This book argues otherwise. Conservative norms of specialized gender roles serve as the root cause of marital dissolution. Those expectations that prescribe what men should do and what women should do help break down marital relationships. Data from South Korea suggest that lingering norms of gendered roles can threaten married persons’ self-identity and hence their marriages during the period of rapid structural changes. The existing literature predicting divorce does not conceptually distinguish between the process of relationship breakdown and the act of ending a marriage, implicitly but heavily focusing on the latter while obscuring the former. In contemporary societies, however, the social and economic cost of divorce is sufficiently low—that is, stigma against divorce is minimal and economic survival after divorce is a nonissue—and leaving a marriage is no longer dictated by one’s being liberal or conservative or any particular characteristics. Thus, the right question to ask is not who leaves a marriage but why a marriage goes sour to begin with. In Korea, a majority of divorces occur through mutual consent of the two spouses without any court procedure, but when one spouse files for divorce, the fault-based divorce litigation rules require the court to lay out the entire chronicle of relevant events occurring up to the legal action, often with the help of court investigators. As such, court rulings provide glimpses into the entire marital dynamics, including verbatim exchanges between the spouses. Lee argues that the typical process of relationship breakdown is related to married persons’ daily practices of verifying their gendered role identity.

The Economics of Divorce recognizes the critical role economic factors play during and after the divorce process. In the past, research into this issue has remained very general despite the enormous weight economics put on the entire divorce process. This book concentrates on elements specifically relevant to the economic variables of divorce. It focuses on the issues of work, employment, and financial support after divorce and how these issues affect the parents, children, and home environments of divorced families. The research presented not only provides insights into the economic aspects of divorce, but it is also invaluable to the entire study of divorce and remarriage as it explores the personal impact of these issues.Geared toward anyone working with divorced families, whether they are clinicians, educators, mediators, or attorneys, The Economics of Divorce is also of use to members of divorced or remarried families. The book contains demographics on the financial lives of custodial parents who remarry, custodial parents who work, and the financial support of college students from divorced families. It offers a close study of the realities of single parenting and reentering the work force, as well as the economic consequences of marital dissolution. The Economics of Divorce is unique in that it is the first publication of its kind to formally identify the economic results of divorcing and remarried families. It reshapes thinking on issues often taken for granted and redefines the ways in which financial issues are addressed. This book analyzes and advises readers on a number of personal and practical issues. Topics discussed include: the role of employment for women intergenerational financial support the economics of remarried families financial support for children’s college educationThe book was designed not only to address these issues but to also facilitate further research and discussion into the economic realities of divorced families. The Economics of Divorce is the first in its field to address the impact of economics on divorced families, but hopefully not the last.