Korean immigration to Mexico

Korean Mexican
Coreano Mexicano 한국계 멕시코인

Total population
12,072 (2009)
Regions with significant populations
Yucatán, Baja California, Mexico City
Religion
Mahayana Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Korean diaspora

Korean Mexicans^{[citation needed]} (Spanish: Coreano-Mexicanos, Korean: 한국계 멕시코인 Hangukgye mekshikoin) are ethnic Koreans born in Mexico. The majority of them reside in Baja California, the state facing the U.S. state of California, and there are smaller concentrations in northern Mexico.

Koreans first arrived in 1905 to the state of Yucatan, where they were used as laborers in the henequen plantations. Over generations, Koreans in the Yucatan Peninsula have intermarried with Native Americans, such as the Maya, but their presence is still visible in cities such as Merida. In Baja California, the Korean Mexican population is also very large with the majority of the Korean descendants being mixed with Spanish and Amerindian ancestry (Mestizo). Mainly because when Korean immigrants arrived in Mexico many generations ago, they were not in enclaved ethnic communities as like in the U.S. and Canada, so intermarriage between Koreans and Mexicans were highly encouraged from the Korean Mexican society producing a unique and indistinguishable offspring of people mixed Korean, Spanish/European, and Amerindian ancestry.

Korean restaurants in Mexico City.

Language

The language of the assimilated Korean Mexicans is predominantly Spanish, but a new wave of Korean Mexicans speak Spanish and/or English. There are many English-learning Korean-Mexican schools (escuelas coreanas) for the recent Korean immigrants.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Korean Immigrants To Mexico - "Aenikkaengs"
• Koreans Battle the Odds in Mexico City's Oldest and Poorest Barrio by Sam Quinones