Emigration and Korea
Examines the history of emigration in Korea.
Location: North Korea; South Korea; United States of America; China; Russia; Japan
Emigration in Korean Society
Before the modern era, Korea did not have a long tradition of emigration. Western outsiders referred to the Joseon dynasty as the "Hermit Kingdom." Korea conducted more diplomacy than its nickname suggests. Most of its citizens, however, remained close to the place of their birth.
This changed with the collapse of the Joseon dynasty and its annexation by Japan. The resulting century of strife and warfare pushed Korean people into the wider world. There, many found success as industrious workers and business owners. As of 2014, there were 116,942 South Korean students studying abroad.[1][2]
The Global Korean Diaspora
Today, 80 percent of the Korean diaspora live in the United States, China, or Japan. The first major waves of Korean emigration began with the Japanese occupation of 1910-1945. Korean laborers were sent to Manchuria, Sakhalin Island, and Japan. Families settled in their new homes and, in some cases, never left after World War II.[1] The Korean War displaced many more through bloody destruction and famine. By 1951, there were an estimated 5.1 million Korean refugees in their own country.[3]
The Korean Diaspora in America
Widespread Korean immigration to America began with the return of American GIs in the '40s and '50s. Many came home with Korean brides, an arrangement built on either love or economic practicality.[4] More men and women soon followed, seeking education and employment. Korean immigration to the United States began to decline in 1988. Increasing prosperity in South Korea has encouraged some Korean-Americans to return to their homeland. There are currently around 5 million people of Korean heritage living abroad.[5]
North Korean Defectors
By contrast, North Korea has remained almost entirely closed off from the outside world. Its borders are heavily guarded to keep enemies out and civilians in. Those who wish to leave must defect, braving both the border zone and unfamiliar societies beyond. Family members left behind face forcible displacement to labor camps. There are about 30,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea, and the rate of defection is growing.[6][7]
Bibliography
Inbom Choi, "Korean Diaspora in the Making" in Korean Diaspora in the World Economy, ed. C. Fred Bergsten and Inbom Choi (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 2003), 9-28.
"Korea Sends Fourth Most Students Abroad," The Korea Herald, September 18, 2016, Herald Corporation, accessed May 12, 2017.
Grace M. Cho, Haunting the Korean Diaspora: Shame, Secrecy, and the Forgotten War (Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2008), 76.
Ibid., 15-17.
Won Moo Hurh, The Korean Americans (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998), 11-27.
Barbara Demick, Nothing to Envy: North Korean Lives (London: Granta, 2009).
"Number of N. Korean Defectors up 11% in 2016," The Korea Times, January 03, 2017, Ktimes.com, accessed May 12, 2017.
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