A scene from the hit Japanese series "Eye Love You" / Courtesy of Netflix

There was a significant increase in marriages between Korean men and Japanese women in 2023, Statistics Korea data showed Tuesday.

According to the 2023 Marriage and Divorce Statistics, there were 840 such marriages last year, up 40.2 percent from 599 marriages the previous year.

The increase was steeper compared to international marriages involving other nationalities, although the total number was still a small fraction of the 19,700 international marriages last year.

The most common type of international marriage was between Korean men and Vietnamese women, seeing an increase of 48.3 compared to the previous year.

The number of Korean women marrying Japanese men remained low, ranking seventh in the nationalities at 143 couples last year. In 2022, the number was 125 and 140 in 2021.

Among non-Korean men, Korean women were most likely to marry American men, followed by Chinese, Vietnamese, Canadian, Australian and British.

The popularity of YouTube channels showing Korean man-Japanese woman couples and the hit Japanese series "Eye Love You," starring Chae Jong-hyeop, is playing a role in more Korean men marrying Japanese women, analysts said.

The show, airing on Japanese TV channel TBS, also available on Netflix, ranked among the top 10 on Netflix Japan for five weeks.