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Korean AMERICANS?
NODUTDOL - NY
KIWA - LA
K A History 101:
Then & Now
Contributed by Seung-Eun
Chai, Hye Young Choi, Jee
Eun Kim
Chosun (the mother land)
• The Korean peninsula is surrounded by three world
powers: China, Russia and Japan.
• Throughout its history, Korea has been invaded
over 900 times and many Koreans have felt it
necessary to fiercely defend their identity as a
separate culture, leading to quite nationalistic
values.
• Due to its central position on the globe, it has been
used as a political pawn. At the end of WWII,
without the consent of the Korean people, the US
and the Soviet Union divided Korea at the 38th
parallel into two zones of occupation – a Soviet
controlled north and a US controlled south.
• The result of this geopolitical chess game resulted
in the Korean War (1950-53) and the longest war in
history (to this day, the country is still under ceasefire agreement).
Occupation/Colonization (1910-45)
• Korea was occupied and colonized by Japan.
• Although some improvements/modernization
were made, Korea did not reap the benefits.
Eg., Japan used half of the Korean rice crops for
its own industry and most farmers were forced
off their land.
• All Korean schools & temples were controlled by
the Japanese where Koreans were forced to
worship at Shinto shrines, speak Japanese in
schools and adopt Japanese names. Japan also
prevented them from publishing Korean
newspapers and organizing intellectual and
political groups.
• Several Koreans sought independence and
worked ‘underground’ organizing movements
toward winning back a Korean republic (e.g., Kim
Il Sung).
Immigration (early 1900s)
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The history of Koreans in America began when some
7000 Koreans were recruited and brought to Hawai’i
as plantation laborers from 1903-1905.
They were brought to meet the labor demand in the
Hawaiian plantations after a series of laws barred
Chinese labor immigration.
About 1100 Korean’ picture brides’ were also brought
in to appease lonely Korean bachelors.
These brides were better educated than their male
partners and took an active part in the Korean
Independence movements.
Students and political exiles constituted the 3rd group
of early Korean immigrants – the most famous being
Syngman Rhee, who later became the first president
of the Republic of Korea.
Most Koreans left seeking better living conditions and
to escape Japanese persecution.
Immigration (1950s)
• American intervention in the Korean War
triggered the next wave of Korean
immigration.
• American soldiers stationed in Korea
brought home Korean brides, arranged
adoptions (which arguably started the
commodification of orphans), and
sponsored students to come to the US.
• The number of Koreans who have
immigrated as adoptees or brides since
the Korean War numbers 100,000+ for
each group.
Immigration (post 1965)
• After 1965, students-turned professionals
were able to apply for permanent residence
visas.
• Since 1970, close relatives of permanent
residents or citizens have comprised an
overwhelming majority of the Korean
immigrants coming to America.
• Today, there are over 1.6 million Koreans
living in the US (2010 census) with the
majority living in Southern California and in the
New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania area.
• Koreans, more than other AAPIs (except for
maybe the Vietnamese), have been quicker to
disperse themselves across the wider regions
of the US, most remarkably in the South.
Acculturation/Assimilation?
• Coming from a traditional society greatly
influenced by the Confucian principle of
placing elders, family & community before
the individual, Korean immigrants have
struggled to make sense of the American
concept of individual freedom.
• Support organizations like churches and
Korean schools have helped to fill this
cultural gap.
To know Han is to know Koreans
• A unique Korean cultural trait denoting a collective
feeling of oppression and isolation in the face of
overwhelming odds.
• Theologian, Suh Nam-dong describes it as: a
feeling of unresolved resentment against injustices
suffered, a sense of helplessness because of the
overwhelming odds against one, a feeling of acute
pain in one’s guts and bowels, making the whole
body writhe and squirm, and an obstinate urge to
take revenge and to right the wrong – all these
combined.
• This is a trait that is believed to have been passed
down from generations.
• Literature, poetry, art, songs (e.g., Arirang, and folk
songs similar in spirit to African American spirituals
and blues) and Korean dramas are based on Han.
Arirang – Han, the musical
• Professor Oh-sweetandtasty (video)
• Chang Sa Ik-folk singer (video)
Entrepreneurship
• The1997 US Economic Census stated that
with more than 155,000 businesses,
Koreans ranked 3rd among AAPIs, after
the Chinese and Indians.
• Their tendency to enter into business is
one of the highest among all minority
ethnic/racial groups.
Why small business?
• Aside from potential profitability, many Korean
immigrants faced status inconsistency and selfesteem issues after arriving in the USA.
• The majority of Korean immigrants earned college
degrees and/or held professional jobs before
moving.
• Language and cultural barriers forced them to take
lower status and less rewarding jobs, so they
looked into operating their own businesses, albeit,
often in risky and difficult neighborhoods and
environments.
• To compete successfully, Korean small business
owners (usually a husband and wife team) worked
long hours with no vacations or weekends off, and
utilized family labor – kids).
Prejudice & Stereotypes
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Early Korean immigrants suffered discrimination much
like the Chinese & Japanese but weren’t specifically
targeted until they became a significant percentage of
the population.
Most Americans didn’t (and still don’t) know much about
Koreans.
When Jack London was a correspondent covering the
Russo-Japanese conflict in 1904 for the SF Examiner, he
wrote the Korean is the perfect type of inefficiency-of
utter worthlessness.
Like other immigrants, they’ve been accused of stealing
jobs and often receive lower pay and getting fewer
promotions.
There were false rumors that Korean immigrants were
given money by the US government upon arrival.
The view of Korean Americans as ‘super immigrants’ has
caused discord and resentment, which resulted in
boycotts against Korean greengrocers in various cities.
Do the Right Thing (1989) (video clip)
Sa-I-Gu (4-2-9 or 4/29)
• The date referring to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
following the unfair acquittal of police officers on
trial regarding a videotaped police brutality incident
of Rodney King.
• Black rioters targeted Korean grocers, destroying
countless Korean American businesses. Many felt
unprotected by law enforcement and some tried to
take matters into their own hands.
• Korean immigrants came to represent wealth,
greed, materialism and arrogance because of
having started businesses in inner-city
neighborhoods that were abandoned by
corporations.
• People often use the Korean small business person
as a scapegoat for their anger against corporate
America.
• Ishle Park-spoken word poet (video)
Sa-I-Gu Aftermath
• KAs faced physical, emotional and psychological
despair. Their stores were looted or burned,
contributing to nearly half of all damages caused by
the riot.
• However, this trauma created a positive moment as
KAs began to establish their political and social
empowerment.
• A week after the riots, the largest Asian Am protest
ever held in a city, about 30,000 mostly Korean and
KA marchers walked the streets of LA Koreatown
calling for peace and denouncing police violence.
• It created a new form of leaders in which 2nd
generation KA children spoke on behalf of the
community.
• KAs saw a shift in occupation goals from
storeowners to political leaders.
Who are we today?
I am Korean: Family (video)
Our stories continued…
•Hye Young Choi
•Jee Eun Kim
•Desun Oka