Portal:Korean diaspora
Portal maintenance status: (October 2018)
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Introduction
The Korean diaspora (South Korea: Hangul: 재외국민; Hanja: 在外國民; RR: Jaeoe gugmin; lit. Overseas national or Hangul: 한국계 교민; Hanja: 韓國系僑民; RR: Hanguggye gyomin; lit. Korean immigrants; North Korea: Hangul: 해외국민; Hanja: 海外國民; RR: Haeoe gugmin; lit. Overseas nation or Hangul: 한국계 동포; Hanja: 韓國過系同胞; RR: Hanguggye dongpo; lit. Korean compatriots) consists of around 7.4 million people, both descendants of early emigrants from the Korean Peninsula, as well as more recent emigres from Korea. Around 84.5% of overseas Koreans live in just Five countries: China, the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia. Other countries with greater than 0.5% Korean minorities include Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, The Philippines and Indonesia. All these figures include both permanent migrants and sojourners.
Selected general articles
- Koreans in Japan (在日韓国人・在日本朝鮮人・朝鮮人, Zainichi-Kankoku-Jin or Zainihonchosenjin or Chōsen-jin) comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945 or who are descendents of those immigrants. They are a distinct group from South Korean nationals who have emigrated to Japan after the end of World War II and the division of Korea.
They currently constitute the second largest ethnic minority group in Japan after Chinese immigrants due to many Koreans assimilating into the general Japanese population. The majority of Koreans in Japan are Zainichi Koreans (在日韓国人, Zainichi Kankokujin), often known simply as Zainichi (在日, "Japan resident"), who are the permanent ethnic Korean residents of Japan. The term Zainichi Korean refers only to long-term Korean residents of Japan who trace their roots to Korea under Japanese rule, distinguishing them from the later wave of Korean migrants who came mostly in the 1980s, and from pre-modern immigrants dating back to antiquity who may themselves be the ancestors of the Japanese people. Read more...
Koreans in Hong Kong formed a population of 13,288 individuals as of 2011, a mid-range size compared to Korean diaspora populations in other cities in China and Southeast Asia. Read more...- As of 2011 about 50,000 Koreans reside in Shanghai. According to 2006 estimates about 85,000 Joseonjok (ethnic Koreans who are Chinese citizens) live in Shanghai. As of 2013 over 19,800 South Koreans are resident in Shanghai. The South Koreans make up the third largest expatriate group in Shanghai. South Koreans began moving to China after the 1992 establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and the People's Republic of China. Most South Koreans migrated to Shanghai due to business reasons.
Hongqiao Town in Minhang District has the largest South Korean community in Shanghai and is considered to be the Koreatown of Shanghai. The Koreatown is located near Hongquan Lu (虹泉路) and Jinhui Nan Lu (金汇南路). As of 2011, about 30,000 of the 50,000 Koreans in Shanghai live in the Koreatown area. Read more... - Koreans in the Arab world used to form a major part of the worldwide Korean diaspora. Koreans started coming to the Arab world in large numbers in early 1970s as migrant labourers; between 1975 and 1985, 1.1 million Koreans came for work, which made it the third-most popular destination for Korean emigrants. Eventually, most returned home or moved on to other countries, and , the South Korean government's own figures showed over 24 thousand of their nationals living in the region. However, South Korean nationals are present in all of the region's countries, and North Korean workers also have a growing presence in several of them. Read more...
- Koreans in Singapore consist mainly of South Korean expatriates. The community formed a population of 19,450 individuals , according to the South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, making them the world's 17th-largest Korean diaspora community. Their population has grown by about 60% since 2007. Read more...
- There is a small Korean community in India, consisting largely of South Korean expatriate professionals and their families, as well as some missionaries and international students at Indian universities. Read more...
South Korean defectors are South Koreans who cross the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to the North.
South Korean defectors are South Korean citizens who have defected to North Korea.
After the Korean War, 333 South Korean prisoners of war detained in North Korea chose to stay in the country. During subsequent decades of the Cold War, some people of South Korean origin defected to North Korea as well. They include Roy Chung, a former U.S. Army sergeant who defected to North Korea through East Germany in 1979. North Korea has been accused of abduction in the disappearances of some South Koreans. Read more...- Koreans in Thailand consist mainly of North Korean refugees and South Korean expatriates, along with a tiny number of South Korean immigrants who have naturalised as citizens of Thailand and their descendants. According to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in 2013 there were about 20,000 Koreans living in the country. Read more...
- Koreans in Chile formed Latin America's sixth-largest Korean diaspora community , according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Read more...
- Koreans in Micronesia used to form a significant population before World War II, when most of the region was ruled as the South Pacific Mandate of the Empire of Japan; for example, they formed 7.3% of the population of Palau in 1943. However, after the area came under the control of the United States as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, most Koreans returned to their homeland. , about seven thousand South Korean expatriates & immigrants and Korean Americans reside in Guam and the Northern Marianas, which have remained under U.S. control, while only around two hundred South Korean expatriates reside in the independent countries of Micronesia. Read more...
- Koreans in Malaysia numbered 12,690 individuals as of 2015[update], making them the 22nd-largest community of overseas Koreans, and the 5th-largest in Southeast Asia. Read more...
- Koreans in Germany numbered 31,248 individuals as of 2009[update], according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Though they are now only the 14th-largest Korean diaspora community worldwide, they remain the second-largest in Western Europe, behind the rapidly growing community of Koreans in the United Kingdom. As of 2010, Germany has been hosting the second largest number of Koreans residing in Western Europe if one excludes Korean sojourners (students and general sojourners).
The biggest community of Koreans are situated in the Frankfurt-Rhine Main Area, with 5,300 residents. This area also contains German and European headquarters of large Korean companies such as Kia Motors, Hyundai, Samsung Electronics, LG International, SK Network, Nexen Tire. Read more... - North Koreans in Russia consist mainly of three groups: international students, guest workers, and defectors and refugees. A 2006 study by Kyung Hee University estimated their total population at roughly 10,000.
Aside from North Korean citizens living in Russia, there has also historically been significant migration from the northern provinces of Korea, especially Hamgyong, to the Russian Far East; this population of migrants became known as the Koryo-saram. 65% of the Sakhalin Koreans also took up North Korean citizenship in the 1950s and 1960s in order to avoid statelessness; roughly one thousand even repatriated to North Korea, though their ancestral homes were in the southern half of the Korean peninsula. In addition, various senior members of the Workers' Party of Korea, including Kim Il-sung himself, lived in Russia prior to Korean independence and the establishment of North Korea. Read more... - Koreans in Peru (Spanish: coreanos en Perú) formed Latin America's seventh-largest Korean diaspora community , according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. They are relatively small in size compared to the other Asian communities in Peru. Read more...
- Koreans in Indonesia numbered 78,676 individuals , making them the 13th-largest population of overseas Koreans, according to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs; some local population estimates put their numbers even higher, at as many as 50,000 people. Read more...
Korean New Zealanders (Korean: 한국계 뉴질랜드인), also referred to informally as Korean Kiwis or Kowis, are New Zealand citizens and residents of Korean ancestry. The 2006 New Zealand census found 30,792 Koreans in the country, virtually all from South Korea, making them the third-largest Asian population there, and more than 0.75 per cent of the total population of New Zealand. Read more...- There are roughly 948 Koreans in Sri Lanka, according to the 2013 statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade). Read more...
- Korean Nepalese are the Nepalis who form a small expatriate community consisting mainly of Catholic nuns, volunteers and businesspeople. According to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, there were 645 South Koreans living in Nepal as of 2013, up by more than 70% from 374 in 2009. There are also known to be some North Koreans doing business in the country. Read more...
- Koreans in Paraguay formed one of the earliest Korean diaspora communities in Latin America. However, they were always overshadowed by the larger Korean communities in neighbouring Brazil and Argentina, and since the late 1990s, their population has fallen significantly. Read more...
- Koryo-mal, Goryeomal, or Koryŏmal (Korean: 고려말, Russian: Корё мар) is the dialect of the Korean language spoken by Koryo-saram, ethnic Koreans in the former Soviet Union. It is descended from the Yukjin dialect and multiple other varieties of Northeastern Korean. Koryo-saram often report difficulty understanding speakers of standard Korean; this may be compounded by the fact that the majority of Koryo-saram today use Russian and not Korean as their first language.
According to German Kim, Koryo-mar is not widely used in the media and is not taught in schools. Thus it can classified as endangered. Read more... - Monument in Merida, Yucatan commemorating 100 years of Korean immigration.
Korean immigration to Mexico began in 1905. The first Korean migrant workers settled in Yucatán, while more recent migrants from South Korea often choose Mexico City as their destination. Read more... - Koreans in Venezuela (also known as Korean Venezuelans) form one of the smallest Korean communities in Latin America, according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Read more...
- Zainichi Korean is Korean as spoken by Zainichi Koreans (ethnic Korean citizens or residents of Japan). The speech is based on the southern dialects of Korean, as the majority of first-generation immigrants came from the southern part of the peninsula, including Gyeonggi-do, Jeolla-do and Jeju-do. Due to isolation from other Korean speech-communities and the influence of Japanese, Zainichi Korean language exhibits strong differences from the standard Korean of either North or South Korea. Read more...
- Koreans in Vietnam is a community of Vietnam with a population of Korean expatriates along with Vietnamese citizens of Korean ancestry. The population initially came in a military capacity, fighting on both sides of the Vietnam War. After the end of the war, there was little Korean migration or tourism in Vietnam, until the rise of the South Korean economy and the decline of the North resulted in an influx of South Korean investors and North Korean defectors, as well as South Korean men seeking Vietnamese wives. As of 2011, according to statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, they numbered roughly eighty thousand people, making them the second-largest Korean diaspora community in Southeast Asia, after the Korean community in the Philippines, and the tenth-largest in the world. A more recent estimate from Vietnam Television says their population might be as large as 130,000. Read more...
- Korean Cubans (Spanish: Coreano-Cubanos, Korean: 한국계 쿠바인 Hangukgye kubain) are citizens of Cuba of Korean ancestry. Most of them are descendants of Korean immigrant farmers from Mexico who left to Cuba in search of a better life. Today about 800 descendants of the Korean farmers live around Havana, Matanzas and other areas of Cuba. Read more...
- Koreans in Argentina (also known as Argentine Koreans or Korean Argentines) form the second-largest Korean diaspora community in Latin America and the 16th largest in the world, according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Their population declined by more than 50% between 1997 and 2003. Despite the small rebound in their numbers since then, they have been surpassed in size by the rapidly growing Chinese Argentine community (which since the 1990s has been increasing non-stop and is expected to become one of the biggest immigrant groups in Argentina, together with Paraguayan, Bolivian and Peruvian immigrants). In the 2010s decade, the Korean community in Argentina has fallen behind Korean communities in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, The United Arab Emirates, and southeast Asia.
Nevertheless, the relevance of the community, and especially its weight among the Korean communities in Latin America, has been hailed on more than one occasion. For example, the Centro Cultural Coreano para América Latina (Korean Cultural Center for Latin America) was created with its headquarters precisely in Argentina. Read more... - There are small number of Koreans in the Czech Republic, comprising both North and South Koreans. Read more...
- Koreans in Mongolia form one of the Korean diaspora communities in Asia. They consist of both North and South Korean expatriates. Read more...
- Koreans in Iran have a history dating back to the 1970s, when South Korean labour migrants began flowing into the country. However, most returned home or moved on to other countries; as of 2011[update], only 405 Koreans lived in the country, according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Read more...
- Koreans in Guatemala form one of the newest and fastest-growing Korean diaspora communities in Latin America. Read more...
Korean shop signs in Wangjing, Beijing
Beijing has a population of Koreans. According to 2006 estimates there about 170,000 Joseonjok (ethnic Koreans who are Chinese citizens) in Beijing and Tianjin combined. Read more...- Since the division of Korea after the end of World War Two and the end of the Korean War (1950–1953), some North Koreans have managed to defect for political, ideological, religious, economic or personal reasons. Such North Koreans are referred to as North Korean defectors. Alternative terms in South Korea include "northern refugees" (Korean: 탈북자, talbukja) and "new settlers" (새터민, saeteomin).
Starting from the North Korean famine of the 1990s, more North Koreans have defected. The most common strategy is to cross the border into Jilin and Liaoning provinces in northeast China before fleeing to a third country, due to China being a relatively-close ally of North Korea. China, being the most influential of few economic partners of North Korea while the country has been under U.N. sanctions for decades, is also the largest and continuous aid source of the country. To avoid worsening the already tense relations with the Korean Peninsula, China refuses to grant North Korean defectors refugee status and considers them illegal economic migrants. About 76% to 84% of defectors interviewed in China or South Korea came from the Northeastern provinces bordering China. If the defectors are caught in China, they are repatriated back to North Korea where they often face harsh interrogations and years of punishment, or even death in political prison camps such as Yodok camp, or reeducation camps such as Chungsan camp or Chongori camp. Read more...
A Koreatown (Korean: 코리아타운 Koliataun), also known as a Little Korea or Little Seoul, is a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area outside the Korean Peninsula. Read more...- Korean Americans (Hangul: 한국계 미국인, Hanja: 韓國系美國人, Hangukgye Migukin) are Americans of Korean heritage or descent, mostly from South Korea, and with a very small minority from North Korea, China, Japan and Post-Soviet states. The Korean American community comprises about 0.6% of the United States population, or about 1.8 million people, and is the fifth largest Asian American subgroup, after the Chinese American, Filipino American, Indian American, and Vietnamese American communities. The U.S. is home to the second largest Korean diaspora community in the world after the People's Republic of China. Read more...
Koreans in Taiwan are the 30th-largest population of overseas Koreans and the 9th-largest foreign community in Taiwan. Read more...- Korean Brazilians (Portuguese: Coreano-brasileiro) are Brazilians of full, partial, or predominantly Korean ancestry, or a Korean-born person residing in Brazil. The Korean population in Brazil, the largest in Latin America, is about 50,000. Read more...
- Korean Canadians are Canadians who are of full or partial Korean descent, It also includes Canadian-born Koreans. According to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, there were 240,942 ethnic Koreans or people of Korean descent in Canada as of 2017[update], making them the fourth-largest Korean diaspora population (behind Koreans in China, Koreans in the United States, Koreans in Japan and ahead of Koreans in Russia, Koreans in Uzbekistan and Koreans in Australia). Read more...
- Koreans in the Philippines, largely consisting of expatriates from South Korea and people born in the Philippines with Korean ancestry[citation needed], form the largest Korean diaspora community in Southeast Asia and the ninth-largest in the world, after Koreans in Kazakhstan and before Koreans in Vietnam. As of 2013, statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade recorded their population at 88,102 people, a fall of 31% since 2009 after a period of rapid growth in the population in the preceding decade.
Many South Koreans living in the Philippines are attracted to the low cost of English-language education and housing, both significantly cheaper than those offered in their native South Korea. The warmer climate is yet another motivating factor for the recent surge in migration. The Philippines is also a popular destination for retired South Koreans on fixed pensions; the Filipino government actively promotes the settlement of South Korean retirees in the country because of the potential lucrative opportunities for the local economy. There are also known cases of North Koreans having been admitted to the Philippines as migrant workers. Read more... - Koreans in Las Palmas form a community distinct from that on the Spanish mainland. Theirs is the only concentration of Koreans in Spain whose presence has resulted in a recognisable Koreatown. They trace their origins to South Korean migrant workers who worked on deep-ocean fishing boats based on the island starting in the 1960s. Fishing, along with construction, was one of the main sources of overseas employment for South Koreans for decades; by the 1970s, nearly 15,000 Koreans resided in Las Palmas, making them about 4% of the city's population of 350,000. Many brought their families over and became rooted in Spain, sending their children to local schools. However, with the decline of South Korea's ocean fisheries industries in the 1990s, their population shrank, from 2,283 individuals in 1997 to just 1,292 by 1999, a number which decreased at a slower rate over the following decade to reach 1,197 by 2011. Most of the remaining Korean population have shifted away from the fishing industry, and their children have largely entered professional fields, achieving relative affluence. Read more...
- Sakhalin Koreans are Russian citizens and residents of Korean descent living on Sakhalin Island, who trace their roots to the immigrants from the Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces of Korea during the late 1930s and early 1940s, the latter half of the Japanese colonial era. At the time, the southern half of Sakhalin Island, then known as Karafuto Prefecture, was under the control of the Empire of Japan; the Japanese government both recruited and forced Korean labourers into service and shipped them to Karafuto to fill labour shortages resulting from World War II. The Red Army invaded Karafuto days before Japan's surrender; while all but a few Japanese there repatriated successfully, almost one-third of the Koreans could not secure permission to depart either to Japan or their home towns in South Korea. For the next forty years, they lived in exile. In 1985, the Japanese government offered transit rights and funding for the repatriation of the original group of Sakhalin Koreans; however, only 1,500 of them returned to South Korea in the next two decades. The vast majority of Koreans of all generations chose instead to stay on Sakhalin.
Due to differing language and immigration history, Sakhalin Koreans may or may not identify themselves as Koryo-saram. The term "Koryo-saram" may be used to encompass to all Koreans in the former USSR, but typically refers to ethnic Koreans from Hamgyŏng province whose ancestors emigrated to the Russian Far East in the 19th century, and then were later deported to Central Asia. The issue of self-identification is complicated by the fact that many Sakhalin Koreans feel that Koreans from Central Asia look down on them. Read more... - The international adoption of South Korean children was triggered by casualties of the Korean War after 1953. The initiative was taken by religious organizations in the United States, Australia, and many Western European nations, and eventually developed into various apparatus that sustained adoption as a socially integrated system. Read more...
- Koreans in South Africa form the largest Korean diaspora community on the African continent and the 29th-largest in the world, ahead of Koreans in Spain and behind Koreans in Italy. Read more...
The population of Koreans in China include millions of descendants of Korean immigrants with citizenship of the People's Republic of China, as well as smaller groups of South and North Korean expatriates, with a total of roughly 2.3 million people , making it the largest ethnic Korean population living outside the Korean Peninsula.
Chaoxianzu (Chinese: 朝鲜族), Joseonjok or Chosŏnjok (Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선족) form one of the 56 ethnicities officially recognized by the Chinese government. Their total population was estimated at 1,923,842 and 1,830,929 according to the 2010 Chinese census. High levels of emigration to South Korea, which has conversely reported a large increase in Chosŏnjok, are the likely cause of the drop. Most of them live in Northeast China, especially in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, which had 854,000 ethnic Koreans living there as of 2000. Read more...- Koreans in the United Kingdom include Korean-born migrants to the United Kingdom and their British-born descendants tracing ancestries from North Korea and South Korea. Read more...
- Koreans in France numbered 12,684 individuals , making them the 3rd-largest Korean diaspora community in Western Europe, according to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Read more...
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Selected images
Bergen County (버건 군), New Jersey, across the George Washington Bridge from New York City (뉴욕), is a growing hub and home to all of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population, led (above) by Palisades Park (벼랑 공원), the municipality with the highest density of ethnic Koreans in the Western Hemisphere. Displaying ubiquitous Hangul (한글) signage and known as the Korean village, Palisades Park uniquely comprises a Korean majority (52% in 2010) of its population, with both the highest Korean-American density and percentage of any municipality in the United States.
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