Haksrei Mom, 23, from Cambodia, greets her son at Yeonggwang General Hospital in South Korea. Women from poorer parts of Asia have fueled a South Korean baby boom, but caused concerns about assimilating the offspring of mixed unions.NEW YORK TIMES / WOOHAE CHOBy MARTIN FACKLER
The New York Times
YEONGGWANG, South Korea -- Just a few years ago, the number of pregnant women in this city had declined so much that the sparsely equipped two-room maternity ward at Yeonggwang General Hospital was close to shutting down. But these days it is busy again.
More surprising than the fact of this miniature baby boom is its composition: children of mixed ethnic backgrounds, the offspring of Korean fathers and mothers from China, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. These families have suddenly become so numerous that the nurses say they have had to learn how to say "push" in four languages.
It is a similar story across South Korea, where hundreds of thousands of foreign women have been immigrating in recent years, often in marriages arranged by brokers. They have been making up for a shortage of eligible Korean women, particularly in underdeveloped rural areas like this one in the nation's southwest.
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