Koreans
The Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula.[15] Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.[16]
Names
South Koreans call Koreans Han-guk-in (한국인; 韓國人)—or simply 한인/Han-in for South Koreans living abroad—or informally Hanguk saram (한국 사람; 韓國 사람), while North Koreans call Koreans Chosŏn-in (조선인; 朝鮮人) or Chosŏn saram (조선 사람; 朝鮮 사람). See Names of Korea, Korean romanization, Hangul (한글) and Hanja (한자).
Origins
The ethnic origins of Koreans are highly debated. Various sources claim origin from Southeast Asia, China, as well as Mongolia. Therefore the information provided here is by no means definite. [17][18][19][20][21][22]
Koreans are believed to be descendants of Altaic-[23][24] or proto-Altaic[25]-speaking tribes, linking them with Mongolians, Turks, and Tungusic peoples. Archaeological evidence suggests proto-Koreans were Altaic-language-speaking migrants from south-central Siberia,[26] who populated ancient Korea in successive waves from the Neolithic age to the Bronze Age.[27]
Genetic studies
Studies of polymorphisms in the human Y-chromosome have so far produced evidence to suggest that the Korean people have a long history as a distinct, mostly endogamous ethnic group with successive waves of people moving to the peninsula and three major Y-chromosome haplogroups.[28][29]
Y-DNA haplogroups
Korean males display a high frequency of Haplogroup O3 (M122), a common Y-DNA haplogroup among East Asians in general,[30][31] and Haplogroup O2b* (P49), a haplogroup of possibly Manchurian origin. Haplogroup O3 has been found in approximately 40% of sampled Korean males,[32][33][34] while Haplogroup O2b* occurs in approximately 14%[35][34][36] to 33%[37] of all Korean males. The origins of Korean Haplogroup O3 are thought to be diverse, with some of them having expanded from Manchuria with Haplogroup O2b and some of them having expanded from southern China with rice agriculturists such as the Hmong people.
Korean males also exhibit a moderate frequency of Haplogroup C3. Haplogroup C3 is thought to be the original inhabitants of the area related to the Nivkh people.
mtDNA haplogroups
Studies on Korean mtDNA lineages have shown that there is a high frequency of Haplogroup D4, which is the modal mtDNA haplogroup among Siberians.[36] Haplogroup D4 is the modal mtDNA haplogroup among Koreans. Haplogroup A has been detected in approximately 10% of Koreans.[36] Haplogroup A is otherwise the most common mtDNA haplogroup among the Chukchi, Eskimo and Na-Denes and many Amerind ethnic groups of North and Central America. Halogroup B is also found at moderate frequency, and is the modal in many populations of East Asia, including China and Japan. Other mtDNA haplgroups have a lower frequency among Koreans, including F, M, R, U and Z.[36]
Autosomal studies
A population genetic study demonstrated DNA evidence of the origin of Koreans from the central Asian Mongolians. Furthermore, the Koreans are more closely related to the Japanese and quite distant from the Chinese.[38]
A 2010 paper on Korean genetics found that, out of the East Asians, the Koreans are the most genetically distant to the Africans.[39] In the same study, Koreans clustered mostly with the Japanese and Beijing/Jilin Chinese populations, however a significant number of Koreans were found to form a cluster away from the Chinese and Japanese. The authors suggested that this cluster were Koreans with significant Siberian admixture, and was observed mainly in Koreans from the Gyeongsang regions.[40]
A genetic admixture model found that central Asian Altaic admixture was prevalent in Koreans, whereas it was relatively absent in Han Chinese from Beijing and the Japanese.[41] This suggests that the main direction of gene flow from Central Asia into East Asia. The lack of central Asian Altaic admixture in the Japanese suggests the existence of a founder effect, when migrants from Korea crossed to Japan. It is well documented that the main migrants from the Korean peninsula into Japan came from Baekje or Kudara. Jongsun Jung et al. reported that the Koreans from central, west and east regions have the highest amount of central Asian Altaic admixture, whereas Koreans from the southwestern tip of Jeju Island reported the least. This is in concordance with the fact that the Korean kingdom of Koguryo was situated in the central and northern parts of the Korean peninsula and Manchuria.
Another recent paper done in 2009 found that the Koreans the Koreans had the lowest percentage of Austronesian DNA among the East Asians, while the Han Chinese had the most.[42] The Japanese were found to have slightly more Austronesian DNA than the Koreans.
Regional differences
Distinct regional differences, culturally and politically, exist among the Koreans, as they do among other ethnicities.
Within South Korea, the most important regional difference is between the Yeongnam region, embracing Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do provinces in the southeast, and the Honam region, embracing Jeollabuk-do and Jeollanam-do provinces in the southwest. The two regions, separated by the Sobaek Mountains, nurture a rivalry said to reach back to the Three Kingdoms Period, which lasted from the fourth century to the seventh century A.D., when the kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla struggled for control of the peninsula.
Observers noted that interregional marriages are rare, and that as of 1990, a new four-lane highway completed in 1984 between Gwangju and Daegu, the capitals of Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do, was unsuccessful in promoting travel between the two areas.
South Korea's political elite, including presidents Park Chung-hee, Chun Doo-hwan, and Roh Tae-woo, have come largely from the Yeongnam region. As a result, Yeongnam has been a special beneficiary of government development assistance. By contrast, historically the Honam region has remained comparatively rural and undeveloped. Regional social disturbances intensified in the May 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement or 5.18 Democratization Movement, in which about 200 and perhaps many more College students and citizens of the Gwangju were killed by Chun Doo-hwan's troops who were sent to quell demonstrations of students and citizens against the government and the military regime. And even Chun Doo-hwan made the Gwangju Democratization Movement distorted as if it had been the infiltration of communism by controlling the media. The demonstrations against the military regime occurred all over the country, but only Gwangju was heavily damaged. Because GNP (Grand National Party) stems from the military regime, the people of Honam don't vote for GNP in most elections.
Regional stereotypes, like regional dialects, have been breaking down under the influence of centralized education, nationwide media, and the several decades of population movement since the Korean War. Stereotypes remain important, however, in the eyes of many South Koreans. For example, the people of Gyeonggi-do, surrounding Seoul, are often described as being cultured, and Chungcheong people, inhabiting the region embracing Chungcheongbuk-do and Chungcheongnam-do provinces, are thought to be mild-mannered, manifesting true yangban virtues. The people of Gangwon-do in the northeast were viewed as farmers in a rural, countryside area, while Koreans from the northern provinces of Pyongan, Hwanghae, and Hamgyong, now in North Korea, are perceived as being diligent and aggressive. Jeju-do is known for its strong-minded and independent women.
Culture
North Korea and South Korea share a common heritage, but the political division since 1945 has resulted in some divergence of modern culture.
Language
The language of the Korean people is the Korean language, which uses hangul as its main writing system. There are around 78 million speakers of the Korean language worldwide.[6]
North Korea data
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Panmunjeom_inside_barack.jpg/150px-Panmunjeom_inside_barack.jpg)
Estimating the size, growth rate, sex ratio, and age structure of North Korea's population has been extremely difficult. Until release of official data in 1989, the 1963 edition of the North Korea Central Yearbook was the last official publication to disclose population figures. After 1963 demographers used varying methods to estimate the population. They either totaled the number of delegates elected to the Supreme People's Assembly (each delegate representing 50,000 people before 1962 and 30,000 people afterward) or relied on official statements that a certain number of persons, or percentage of the population, was engaged in a particular activity. Thus, on the basis of remarks made by President Kim Il Sung in 1977 concerning school attendance, the population that year was calculated at 17.2 million persons. During the 1980s, health statistics, including life expectancy and causes of mortality, were gradually made available to the outside world.
In 1989 the Central Statistics Bureau released demographic data to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) in order to secure the UNFPA's assistance in holding North Korea's first nationwide census since the establishment of the state in 1948. Although the figures given to the United Nations might have been distorted, it appears that in line with other attempts to open itself to the outside world, the North Korean regime has also opened somewhat in the demographic realm. Although the country lacks trained demographers, accurate data on household registration, migration, and births and deaths are available to North Korean authorities. According to the United States scholar Nicholas Eberstadt and demographer Judith Banister, vital statistics and personal information on residents are kept by agencies on the ri (“village”, the local administrative unit) level in rural areas and the dong (“district” or “block”) level in urban areas.
Koreans outside of the Korean peninsula
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Russia_stamp_V.Tsoi_1999_2r.jpg/220px-Russia_stamp_V.Tsoi_1999_2r.jpg)
Large-scale emigration from Korea began as early as the mid-1860s, mainly into the Russian Far East and Northeast China; these populations would later grow to nearly three million Koreans in China and several hundred thousand Koryo-saram (ethnic Koreans in Central Asia).[43][44] During the Colonial Korea of 1910-1945, Koreans were often recruited and or forced into labour service to work in mainland Japan, Karafuto Prefecture, and Manchukuo; the ones who chose to remain in Japan at the end of the war became known as Zainichi Koreans, while the roughly 40 thousand who were trapped in Karafuto after the Soviet invasion are typically referred to as Sakhalin Koreans.[45][46] Korean emigration to America was known to have begun as early as 1903, but the Korean American community did not grow to a significant size until after the passage of the Immigration Reform Act of 1965; as of 2007, roughly 2 million Koreans emigrants and people of Korean descent live in the United States.[citation needed]
Large Koreatowns can also be found in Brazil and Canada. The largest Korean community outside of Korea is in Los Angeles, California. Koreans in the United Kingdom now form Western Europe's largest Korean community; Koreans in Germany used to outnumber those in the UK until the late 1990s. There are also Koreatowns in China and Latin American countries such as Argentina, Guatemala, and Mexico.[citation needed] During the 1990s and 2000s, the number of Koreans in the Philippines and Koreans in Vietnam have also grown significantly.[47][48]
The Korean population in the United States is a small share of the US economy, but it has a disproportionately favorable impact. The Koreans in the United States have a saving rate double that of the average American. Koreans in the United States graduate from college at a rate double that of the average American providing a highly skilled and educated addition to the US workforce. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Census 2000 data, mean household earnings for Koreans in the U.S. were $59,981, approximately 5.1% higher than the U.S. average of $56,604.[49]
Gallery
See also
- Demographics of North Korea
- Demographics of South Korea
- Korean diaspora
- Koreatown
- List of Korea-related topics
Notes
- ^ Population of South Korea 2010
- ^ Preliminary results of the 2008 Census of Population of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea conducted on 1-15 October 2008
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa 재외동포현황/Current Status of Overseas Compatriots. South Korea: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
- ^ Note that the 2006 American Community Survey gave a much smaller figure of 1,520,703. See S0201. Selected Population Profile in the United States. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 22 September 2007.
- ^ The 2002 Russian census gave a figure of 148,556. See "Население по национальности и владению русским языком по субъектам Российской Федерации" (Document) (in Russian). Федеральная служба государственной статистики.
{{cite document}}
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ignored (help) - ^ a b "Korean". ethnologue. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
- ^ Every Culture - Culture of NORTH KOREA
- ^ Every Culture - South Koreans
- ^ Every Culture - Culture of SOUTH KOREA
- ^ state.gov
- ^ "Korea.net: The official website of the Republic of Korea - Religion".
- ^ "International Religious Freedom Report 2008 - Korea, Republic of". U.S. Department of State. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 22 January 2009. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
- ^ state.gov
- ^ Korean Peninsula (50 million + 24 million) + Korean diaspora (6.8 million)
- ^ Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues - Page 40 by Pyong Gap Min
- ^ "South Korea". US Department of State. 10 December 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
- ^ Simple Google Search: Human Migration. "http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=human+migration+map&cp=17&pq=china&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=683"
- ^ Human Migration Map. "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hV1HOLamOz4/Taus3OBULWI/AAAAAAAAADo/9xqknrgt7MM/s1600/ancestry+large.jpg"
- ^ Human Genographic Map. "http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41026000/gif/_41026369_genographic_map416.gif"
- ^ Genetic Variation Chart. "http://pmsol3.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/journalpone0003862g0011.jpg"
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- ^ Y Migration Map. "http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncscotts/Y-DNA/Migration%20Maps/Y-Migration_Map.jpg"
- ^ Nelson, Sarah M. (1993). The Archaeology of Korea. Cambridge University Press. p. 6. ISBN 0521407834.
- ^ "Korean people(한민족)". Naver Encyclopedia (in Korean). Retrieved 9 March 2007.
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- ^ The Rise of Civilization in East Asia: the Archaeology of China, Korea and Japan, pp. 165
- ^ 뿌리 깊은 한국사, 샘이 깊은 이야기: 고조선, 삼국, pp. 44–45
- ^ Y chromosomes and mtDNA of Koreans
- ^ http://www.springerlink.com/content/p604310l152202g4/
- ^ Hong Shi, Yong-li Dong, Bo Wen et al., "Y-Chromosome Evidence of Southern Origin of the East Asian–Specific Haplogroup O3-M122," Am. J. Hum. Genet. 77:408–419, 2005
- ^ Bo Wen, Hui Li, Daru Lu et al., "Genetic evidence supports demic diffusion of Han culture," Nature, Vol 431, 16 September 2004
- ^ Shin, Dong Jik et al 2001, Y-Chromosome multiplexes and their potential for the DNA profiling of Koreans
- ^ Kim W, Yoo T-K, Kim S-J, Shin D-J, Tyler-Smith C, et al. (2007) Lack of Association between Y-Chromosomal Haplogroups and Prostate Cancer in the Korean Population. PLoS ONE 2(1): e172. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000172
- ^ a b Xue, Yali et al 2006, Male demography in East Asia: a north-south contrast in human population expansion times Cite error: The named reference "Xue2006" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Han-Jun Jin, Kyoung-Don Kwak, Michael F. Hammer, Yutaka Nakahori, Toshikatsu Shinka, Ju-Won Lee, Feng Jin, Xuming Jia, Chris Tyler-Smith and Wook Kim, "Y-chromosomal DNA haplogroups and their implications for the dual origins of the Koreans," Human Genetics (2003)
- ^ a b c d Han-Jun Jin, Chris Tyler-Smith, and Wook Kim (2009), "The Peopling of Korea Revealed by Analyses of Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosomal Markers," PLoS ONE 4(1): e4210. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004210 Cite error: The named reference "Jin2009" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Hammer, Michael F.; Karafet, Tatiana M.; Park, Hwayong; Omoto, K; Harihara, S; Stoneking, M; Horai, S; et al. (2006). "Dual origins of the Japanese: common ground for hunter-gatherer and farmer Y chromosomes". Journal of Human Genetics. 51 (1): 47–58. doi:10.1007/s10038-005-0322-0. PMID 16328082.
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(help) - ^ Origin of the Koreans: a population genetic study
- ^ http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2010/08/which-population-is-most-genetically.html
- ^ "Gene Flow between the Korean Peninsula and Its Neighboring Countries". PLoS ONE: accelerating the publication of peer-reviewed science. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
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- ^ "Gene Flow between the Korean Peninsula and Its Neighboring Countries". PLoS ONE: accelerating the publication of peer-reviewed science. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
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- ^ "Mapping Human Genetic Diversity in Asia". Science Magazine. Retrieved 11 December 2009.
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- ^ Lee Kwang-kyu (2000). Overseas Koreans. Seoul: Jimoondang. ISBN 89-88095-18-9.
- ^ Kim, Si-joong (2003). "The Economic Status and Role of Ethnic Koreans in China" (PDF). The Korean Diaspora in the World Economy. Institute for International Economics. pp. Ch. 6: 101–131.
{{cite conference}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Ban, Byung-yool (22 September 2004). "Koreans in Russia: Historical Perspective". Korea Times. Retrieved 20 November 2006.
- ^ NOZAKI, Yoshiki. "Legal Categories, Demographic Change and Japan's Korean Residents in the Long Twentieth Century". Japan Focus.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Kelly, Tim (18 September 2006). "Ho Chi Minh Money Trail". Forbes. Retrieved 27 March 2007.
- ^ Meinardus, Ronaldo (15 December 2005). ""Korean Wave" in Philippines". The Korea Times. Retrieved 16 February 2007.
- ^ http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF4_U_QTP33&-reg=DEC_2000_SF4_U_QTP33:001%7C023&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF4_U&-_lang=en&-format=&-CONTEXT=qt
References
This image is available from the United States Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division under the digital ID {{{id}}}
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Wikipedia:Copyrights for more information.- 서의식 and 강봉룡. 뿌리 깊은 한국사, 샘이 깊은 이야기: 고조선, 삼국, ISBN 89-8133-536-2
- Barnes, Gina. The Rise of Civilization in East Asia: the Archaeology of China, Korea and Japan, ISBN 05-0027-974-8
External links