A 32-year-old American woman was flabbergasted when she picked up a phone call from a Korean parent while working at a matchmaking firm in Korea.

“Couple counseling is extended to parent counseling here in Korea. I have talked to a father who was handling marriage for his son who lives in Scotland,” she said.

Rebecca Woolfe of Couple.net, one of leading matchmaking firms in Korea, is the nation’s first foreign couple manager.

“I have changed so much since I began work here. I pushed my comfort zone, as I was an introvert, and now dealing with and facing people have become the favourite part of my job,” Woolfe told The Korea Herald.

Not only has her personality gone through tremendous change as she deals with people at the firm, but also her view of marriage has changed as well, as she gradually understood the Korean matchmaking culture.

“I didn’t believe that a person’s background, family or religion and the like could be really important criteria in marriage.”

Now she believes that such criteria as family and religion may help people mutually understand each other, but she stressed that they should not become decisive factors.

As a couple manager from abroad, she spends much of her working hours selling the Korean way of matchmaking to foreigners or Koreans with Western backgrounds.

“We are targeting those who consider marriage seriously no matter where they live, so if we open up and utilize our system well, I think it is possible to globalize the Korean way of matchmaking to Western countries,” she said.

Promoting more serious relationships and helping people become realistic about marriage is another part of her job as a couple manager. “Some people have too high standards and criteria about their future spouses; some are too light about relationships these days,” she said.

The firm has developed a Spousal Index, an algorithm based on such references as education, occupation and family background (usually father’s occupation) to find the “right” standard for spouse.

“We’re trying to adjust the Korean spousal index formula to blend in foreign cultures. We recently added 'personality' to the formula because foreigners are not so much concerned about socio-economic and financial factors as Koreans are. We try to mix and adjust the formula to develop a global system,” she said.

“I believe the Korean way of matchmaking is applicable to other countries.”

According to her, an increasing number of foreigners start to trust the Korean way of matchmaking. Some members even try to upgrade their profiles to the "Korean matchmaking standard" -- that is – to improve their social status or change lifestyles until they look attractive to the Korean opposite sex.

“There was a Jewish man from L.A. He came all the way to visit us with interest in Korean women. He said he wanted to join the service, but he was too concerned about whether or not he would be attractive enough to a Korean woman. Though he had worked at a law firm in Korea, he was unemployed at the time, so he has built up his career, then opened an account with us. This is exactly what we have been looking for,” she said.

Woolfe, who is single herself, said that she would not mind marrying a Korean man.

“I have been doing my best to help others find their spouses, but have not done so much about helping myself.”

She has dated a Korean man, but the result was not what she wanted.

“My mindset was different from his. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t mind marrying or dating a Korean man. Perhaps, I would feel that I may trust people more if they are introduced through our system,” she said.

While she is proud of being a "crusader" for the Korean matchmaking system, she advises single men and women not to apply criteria too heavily because not many of them are fully aware of what they really want in a spouse.