SITTING in his office crammed with files and boxes, entrepreneur Lee Woong Jin talks enthusiastically about his latest money-making plan: Merging the age-old Korean matchmaking traditions with the vibrant South Korean Internet culture.

Matchmaking services have been on the Net for years in South Korea and elsewhere,but Mr Lee insists that his system is the most scientifically advanced around, reported the International Herald Tribune.

For example, pharmacist Kim Su Jong, 29,has listed more than 330 pieces of information about herself.

They include everything from her height,weight, blood type and smoking habits to her monthly pay, personality preferences in a spouse, and the jobs and academic credentials of everyone in her family.

Mr Lee's computer program then quantifies her desirability as a spouse, grading 1,320 job categories and all 8,200 school departments in South Korea on a scale of 0 to 100.

It even rates Ms Kim on a physical attractiveness index.

Within seconds, the program, called Shiny,produces a marriage consulting report advising her that it would be most realistic for her to get married next year to a 33-year-old dentist or herbal doctor between 1.7m and1.74m tall.

If she believes in horoscopes, the computer notes that August would be the best month to get married in, and that March and September should be avoided.

This information costs Ms Kim 20,000 won($33). For another 30,000 won, Shiny scans a pool of 25,000 clients and, on the following two Wednesdays, sends her the names of one or two men whose own profile makes them suitable partners.

Said Mr Lee, the chief executive of Sunoo,one of the oldest and leading matchmaking agency in South Korea: "We built our system by analysing the marrying patterns of 10,000couples married through our agency.

SCIENTIFIC, NOT ROMANTIC

"Our site is not a place for Cinderellas -people with illusions of finding a prince or princess. Our emphasis is on being scientific and practical.

"We are a harbinger of the future."Some critics decry the proliferation of computerised matchmaking services like Mr Lee's, saying the services encourage marriage only between people with similar social backgrounds and discriminate against"lesser" beings who don't meet their criteria.

But big agencies, like Sunoo, produce over1,000 married couples a year. Which is why Mr Lee and his Shiny program's "objective spouse index" are prospering.

The program does not release full names and contact numbers until they agree to meet and each pay 30,000 won.

Traffic is brisk. Mr Lee's Shiny service is generating 50 million won a month in sales.

He said: "My dream is one day to connect the entire world through a global matchmaking network that transcends racial boundaries."