Korean Americans

Korean Americans

Orientation

Identification and Location. Before 1965 Korean immigrants settled primarily in Hawaii, California, and other West Coast states. The earlier immigrants were found particularly in Honolulu, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Post-1965 immigrants are more widely distributed throughout the United States, but California is still a magnet for Korean immigrants, with a heavy concentration in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The New York-New Jersey area is the second largest Korean center after southern California. Other cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Dallas also have significant Korean populations.

Demography. The Korean community in the United States is largely the by-product of the immigration law that has been in force since 1965. The U.S. Census shows that the Korean population increased from approximately 70,000 in 1970 to 800,000 in 1990 and to 1, 100,000 in 2000. Taking into account Korean Americans not counted in the 2000 census, the Korean population was close to 1. 3 million in 2000. In 1990, 28 percent of Korean Americans were native-born. The proportion of native-born Korean Americans increased in the 1990s.

Linguistic Affiliation. Korean immigrants in North America are a very homogeneous group in terms of culture and historical experiences. Language probably is the most significant element of ethnicity, and Koreans speak a single language. This monolingual background has helped Korean immigrants maintain their ethnic attachments. Koreans used Chinese characters for many centuries, but in the fourteenth century Great King Sejong created the Korean alphabet, Hangul. All Korean immigrants can speak Korean and can read the alphabet. Thus, they exclusively speak Korean at home and depend on the Korean-language media for information and recreational activities. Although second-generation Korean Americans feel more comfortable speaking English, many of them also speak the mother tongue.

History and Cultural Relations

Approximately 7,200 Koreans came to Hawaii to work on sugar plantations between 1882 and 1905. They composed the first wave of Korean immigrants to the United States, although nearly a hundred Koreans had crossed the Pacific bridge after diplomatic relations were established with the United States in 1882. Economic hardship in Korea precipitated by a nationwide famine was the primary factor in the movement of pioneer Korean immigrants, along with the shortage of manual laborers in Hawaii.

Most pioneering Korean immigrants planned to return to Korea as soon as they earned enough money. Most were younger males who had lived in Seoul, Inchon, and other urban areas of Korea, where they had worked as manual laborers. Forty percent of them were Christians, and the majority attended Korean Christian churches in the United States. The exposure to American missionaries in Korea was a major factor that influenced Koreans to migrate to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century.

Early immigration came to a sudden end in the summer of 1905, when Korea became a Japanese protectorate after the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War. Under pressure from the Japanese government, the Korean Foreign Ministry instructed the mayors of port cities to stop issuing passports. Before Korean immigrants went to Hawaii, Japanese workers monopolized plantation work on those islands. The immigration of Korean workers to Hawaii hindered the monopoly of labor by Japanese workers. Thus, the Japanese government pressured the Korean government not to send more emigrants to Hawaii to protect the economic interests of Japanese workers.

After 1905, about 2,000 more Korean came to Hawaii and California before Asian immigration was banned in 1924. Almost all Korean immigrants between 1906 and 1924 were either "picture brides" of the earlier male immigrants or students and politicians engaged in the anti-Japanese movement that followed the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910. Korean community leaders in Hawaii and California led the immigrants' activities in the anti-Japanese independence movement. Korean churches became the most important ethnic organizations for pre-1965 immigrants by helping them maintain social interactions with fellow Koreans and preserve their cultural traditions. The national origins quota system that came into effect in 1924 completely barred Korean immigration until the end of World War II.

The close political, military, and economic connections between the United States and South Korea that began with the Korean War in 1950 caused immigration to resume. Between 1950 and 1964 more than 15,000 Koreans were admitted to the United States as legal immigrants. Most of the Koreans admitted during this intermediate period were the "war brides" who married American servicemen in Korea and later were invited by their spouses to come to the United States. The Korean orphans adopted by American citizens composed a significant proportion of the immigrants in this period. Both the rate of intermarriage and the adoption of Korean children by American citizens increased in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Immigration Act of 1965 led to a dramatic increase in Asian immigration, and South Korea has been one of the major source countries for the new immigration. Between 1976 and 1990 South Korea sent more than 30,000 immigrants a year to the United States. Post-1965 Korean immigrants have been primarily economic immigrants seeking a higher standard of living. Also, many Koreans moved to the United States to give their children a better opportunity to obtain a college education. In addition, U.S.-Korean political, economic, and military links and U.S. cultural influence in South Korea were important structural factors that have contributed to the mass influx. Korean immigration peaked in 1987 at about 36,000 but has fallen since 1988. In 1994 the number of Korean immigrants dropped to about 16,000, less than half the number in 1987.

Improved economic, social, and political conditions in South Korea are largely responsible for this recent gradual reduction. The standard of living in South Korea has risen greatly, and social and political insecurity has been reduced substantially. South Korea had a presidential election in 1987, ending a 26-year military dictatorship. Also, economic recession in the United States affected Korean small business owners. South Koreans are increasingly well informed about the difficulties Korean immigrants have adjusting to the United States. Recently, many immigrants have returned to Korea permanently, giving up their "American dream."

Settlements

In the late 1960s most Korean Americans resided in the West, with the largest number in Los Angeles. New Korean immigrants usually settled in the areas where they could get help from relatives and friends. As a result of chain migration, Los Angeles and other West Coast cities, such as San Francisco and San Jose, continued to attract Korean immigrants. However, economic opportunity was the primary motive for Korean immigrants to settle in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and other cities where there were few Koreans in the late 1960s.

In the 1970s many Koreans were admitted as occupational immigrants, particularly as medical professionals. Large numbers of those immigrants chose New York, Chicago, and other Eastern and Midwestern cities because they received job offers from hospitals. Once Korean occupational immigrants established an immigration chain in these cities, they continued to bring their relatives and friends. Post-1965 immigrants usually chose to settle in large metropolitan cities.

Korean immigrants tend to establish ethnic enclaves. Since the later 1970s Koreans in Los Angeles have developed an enclave known as "Koreatown." about three miles west of downtown Los Angeles. Koreatown is the home of about half the Koreans in Los Angeles. There are approximately 3,500 Korean stores with Korean-language signs in Koreatown, where coethnics find Korean food, groceries, books and magazines, and services. About one-fourth of Koreans in New York City are concentrated in Flushing, Queens, which has emerged as the Koreatown of New York. Most Koreans in Flushing live near the downtown area, where they have established a Korean business district, Hanin Sanga. Koreans in Chicago, San Francisco, and other cities have established their own ethnic enclaves. New immigrants with language difficulties have settled in Korean enclaves, drawn by the availability of ethnic foods and other ethnically-oriented services and the potential for employment in Korean-owned stores.

Economy

Commercial Activities. Korean immigrants have developed a unique method of economic adaptation by concentrating in a limited range of small businesses. Korean immigrants in the late 1960s and early 1970s expected to obtain white-collar and professional positions in the fields in which they had been trained. However, because of the language barrier, familiarity with American customs, and other disadvantages, most had to switch to low-level, blue-collar occupations. Many reluctantly turned to small business as an alternative to blue-collar employment. In the early 1970s many Korean immigrants engaged in trade between their host and home countries, importing manufactured goods such as wigs, handbags, jewelry, and clothing from South Korea. Korean importers distributed the merchandise mainly to Korean retailers.

Korean immigrants moved into other types of businesses such as groceries, produce and liquor retailing, dry cleaning, and garment manufacturing. Koreans in Los Angeles, New York, and other major centers are overrepresented in these businesses. Korean grocery, liquor, and produce stores are heavily concentrated in African American neighborhoods, and this situation has produced Korean-African American tension and conflict. Many Korean stores in black neighborhoods have been subject to boycotts and other forms of rejection, and during the 1992 Los Angeles riots about 2,300 Korean stores were destroyed.

Division of Labor. Because of the influence of Confucianism, traditional gender role differentiation has been preserved in South Korea. Only one-fourth of married women in Korea participate in the labor force. However, the immigration of Koreans to the United States has led to a radical increase in women's participation in the labor force. In 1990 approximately 60 percent of married Korean American women worked outside the home, in comparison to 58 percent of white married women. Because of their involvement in small businesses, married Korean immigrant women usually work long hours. Korean immigrant women increased their economic role without changes in their husbands' conservative attitudes toward genders; this, along with overwork and work-related stress, has contributed to marital conflict in many families.

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Confucianism was dominant in Korea before Christianity was adopted in the beginning of the twentieth century. Confucianism emphasizes consanguineal ties and ancestor worship, and Koreans consider kin ties beyond the nuclear family very important.

Although Korean immigrants maintain strong kin ties, they have adapted to an American nuclear family system that focuses on married partners and their unmarried children. Less than half the Korean elderly in the United States live with their adult children, a significant decrease from the 75 percent in Korea. Korean elders who live with their children were usually invited to live with them in the United States. The Koreans who immigrated to the United States in their forties and fifties have reached their retirement age in the United States and mostly live independently. Korean immigrants tend to depend more on relatives than on friends to help them adjust to the United States, yet they gradually switch from kin members to nonkin for friendship and recreational activities. Few Korean immigrant families observe the rituals of ancestor worship, as the vast majority of them are affiliated with Korean Protestant or Catholic churches.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. Both legally and by custom, divorce is more difficult in Korea than in the United States, although the divorce rate has increased radically in South Korea over the last several years. Thus, Korean immigrants have a substantially lower divorce rate than do white Americans. However, Korean immigrants have a much higher divorce rate than does the population in Korea. Even intact Korean immigrant families have far more marital and generational conflicts than do intact families in Korea.

Domestic Unit. Whereas the vast majority of the early twenieth-century Korean immigrants came to the United States as temporary, single male laborers, most contemporary immigrants have arrived in family units. This suggests that most Korean Americans live in intact families. The 1990 census showed that 15 percent of Korean Americans lived in single-person households and that 83 percent of Korean American families were married couple families. In the United States, adult children usually live independently from their parents. But many Korean American adult children, especially daughters, live with their parents until they get married.

Socialization. As a consequence of the Confucian cultural tradition, child socialization in South Korea still emphasizes children's obedience to and respect for parents and other adults. Korean immigrant parents, the vast majority of whom completed their formal education in South Korea, are more authoritarian than are most American parents, although there are significant class differences in child socialization practices. Another core element of Confucianism is an emphasis on children's social mobility through education. Many Korean immigrant parents came to the United States to give their children a good education. Korean parents pressure their children to succeed in school and make them study for many hours after school. Korean parents also practice a traditional form of gender socialization, treating boys and girls differently.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. The Korean community has a large number of ethnic organizations that provide services, facilitate social interactions among Koreans, and provide information. These organizations include ethnic churches, alumni associations, ethnic media, social service agencies, cultural organizations, recreational associations, occupational associations (trade and professional), and surname and provincial associations. As of 2000, there are approximately 4,000 Korean Protestant or Catholic churches in the United States. Korean ethnic churches provide important practical services for immigrants. Each major Korean community has developed a number of ethnic media, including newspapers and television stations. The ethnic media play a central role in integrating geographically dispersed Koreans and supply news from Korea.

Political Organization. Each major Korean community has a central organization whose president usually is elected every one or two years. The two major functions of the organization are to mediate between Koreans and the government and other ethnic groups and to provide services for new immigrants. Each major community has several specialized political organizations, including those established by younger-generation Koreans, which have particular objectives. For example, younger-generation Koreans in Los Angeles established the Korean American Coalition in 1983 to increase Koreans' political power and protect Korean interests in relation to the media, governmental bodies, and outside interest groups. Korean trade associations protect merchants and have been involved in boycotting white suppliers and lobbying government agencies to protect Korean American business interests.

Conflict. Korean immigrants have been involved in major intergroup conflicts because of their middleman economic role, connecting low-income minority customers and white suppliers. Many Korean grocery and liquor store owners in African American neighborhoods have been subject to boycotts, and many were destroyed during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Korean merchants have had conflicts with white suppliers, white landlords, and government agencies over economic interests. Koreans' business-related intergroup conflicts have strengthened their ethnic solidarity. The fate of Korean merchants during the Los Angeles riots awakened Korean immigrants' political consciousness and younger-generation Koreans' sense of ethnic identity.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. Korean immigrants came largely from the Christian population in the home country. About 55 percent of Korean immigrants attended Christian churches in Korea before immigration. Many immigrants who were described as Buddhists or nonreligious are now affiliated with Korean Protestant or Catholic churches in the United States. Today about 75 percent of Korean immigrants are affiliated with Korean Christian churches whereas less than 5 percent are affiliated with Korean Buddhist temples. Korean Buddhists and those with no religious affiliation can convert relatively easily to Christianity because their Confucian values and customs regulate much of their behavior and attitudes.

Religious Practitioners. Most Korean Christians attend church for religious purposes. However, Korean immigrant churches also serve several practical social functions. Perhaps their most important social function is to provide fellowship for new immigrants. Separated from their relatives and friends in Korea, the immigrants need new networks to cope with alienation in the larger, foreign environment. Korean churches are places where new immigrants can meet and socially interact with other Koreans, and these churches also provide many services, including immigrant orientation. Through their participation in Korean churches, immigrants can maintain their cultural traditions and identity. Most of these churches have established a Korean school to teach the younger generation the native language, culture, and history. Churches in each Korean community have established an association or a council that is very influential in the community, such as the Council of Korean Churches in Greater New York. When Koreans need to mobilize people for demonstrations, boycotts, and other collective activities, they receive support and cooperation from the Council of Korean Churches. The council has often had conflicts with the Korean Association of New York, the central political organization, over holding the annual Korean festival on Sunday and other community issues.

Ceremonies. In traditional Korean society a wedding ceremony was held at a groom's home following Confucian customs. Nowadays, however, a western-style wedding ceremony held at a commercial wedding hall or a church is widely accepted in South Korea, although the traditional wedding is still practiced in many rural villages. In the Korean immigrant community where the majority of the population is Christian, a Christian-style wedding ceremony is usually held at a Korean church and presided over by a pastor, with prayers given in the Korean language and hymns sung by all participants. The same is true of funerals. While most people in South Korea still perform the Confucian-style funeral ceremony, Korean immigrants usually hold a Christian-style memorial service in a chapel. Even if the family involved is not Christian, the wedding or funeral more often than not follows the Christian style because most participants are Christians. Major changes in Korean Americans' wedding and funeral ceremonies reflect the impact of the Christianization of the Korean immigrant population on Korean ethnic culture.

An important element of Korean traditional wedding and funeral ceremonies that has not changed from South Korea to the United States is the custom of invitees to donate a significant amount of money to help the involved families cover wedding or funeral costs. As of 2000, each couple invited to a wedding contributes an average of $250 to a bride or a groom. Because more than one hundred couples are usually invited to a wedding, a new marital couple can save some money after paying off wedding costs. While this custom of a generous donation is good for the host families, it imposes financial burdens on the invited families.

Arts. Korean Cultural Service, a semigovernmental organization that promotes Korean culture, is located in New York and Los Angeles. It regularly displays Korean artistic and calligraphic works and shows traditional Korean films. It also invites performing artists from Korea to introduce traditional Korean dances and music to Korean Americans and other American citizens. Koreans emphasize their children's musical talent. As a result, there are many internationally known Korean pianists and musicians. Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York have Korean dances and concerts almost every month. There are a number of Korean cultural organizations, including several dance groups, choirs, and symphony orchestras, in New York and Los Angeles that regularly put on concerts of Korean dances and music.

Medicine. Koreans in the United States usually participate in the American health care system, but there are a number of acupuncture clinics and Asian herb shops in Korean enclaves. Elderly Koreans and new immigrants depend partly on acupuncture and Asian herbs. Many immigrants who participate in the American health care system prefer Korean physicians, nurses, and pharmacists because of their common language.

For other cultures in The United States of America, see List of Cultures in Volume 10 and under specific culture names in Volume 1, North America.

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PYONG GAP MIN