Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin delivers a speech at the first session of the matching event "Solomon's Choice" at Militopia Hotal in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. (Seongnam City Hall)
A matchmaking party hosted by Seongnam City ended with 30 percent of participants being matched on Sunday, earning praise from the participants' parents.
The first group matching event, called “Solomon’s Choice,” was held at Militopia Hotel in the city of Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province, with the participation of 50 men and women aged between 26 and 38 years old, Seongnam City Hall announced on Monday.
The city required participants to submit marriage certificates to ensure they were single.
The event’s title intended to be a humorous play on words, using the word “solo” which is often used to refer to a single person in South Korea, and the biblical figure Solomon, who is known for making wise decisions.
The participants were chosen among 802 men and 386 women who applied for the event from May 22 to June 21. The city restricted applications to only Seongnam citizens or employees of local companies.
Out of 200 successful applicants, 100 attended last Sunday’s match. The others will seek romance in the second session this coming Sunday.
The event consisted of diverse activities including a romance coaching class, a session on the Myers-Briggs Personality Test -- a widely-loved icebreaker topic in South Korea -- a couple recreation corner, wine party and self-promotion time.
In the end, 15 couples were matched after all participants picked three people they felt attracted to.
Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin said at the event that he was told many times from grateful parents of participants that “Solomon’s Choice” was an indispensible event.
Shin also said that he was assured of the matching program's importance after seeing nearly 1,200 applicants.
The city will decide on whether to hold more matching events after assessing the results of the two “Solomon’s Choice” sessions.
MOST POPULAR