South Koreans married to members of the country's 1-million-strong foreign population generally said they are happily wed, a survey conducted by a non-governmental organization showed.

South Koreans are more happily married than their foreign spouses, the Seoul Women Family Foundation found in their survey of 842 foreigners married to Koreans and 177 South Koreans married to foreigners.

According to the survey, 59.3 per cent of the South Koreans interviewed said were satisfied with their marriage while 40.3 per cent of the foreigners said so.

Foreign spouses from the Philippines showed the highest satisfaction at 49.5 per cent while Cambodians ranked the lowest at 29.2 per cent.

Foreign spouses said the language barrier was the biggest hurdle in their marriages, followed by difficulties in adapting, parental disapproval as well as perceived unfair treatment in society.

Meanwhile, South Korean approval of interracial marriages rose. In Seoul, 77 per cent said they approved of mixed marriages, the survey found.

According to the National Statistics Office, there are at least 150,000 mixed marriages in South Korea.