Choi - Korean Americans

the new immigrants
Filipino Americans
Indian Americans
Jamaican Americans
Korean Americans
Mexican Americans
Ukrainian Americans
Vietnamese Americans
the new immigrants
korean
Americans
Anne Soon Choi
Series Editor: Robert D. Johnston

Associate Professor of History,
University of Illinois at Chicago
Frontis: Korea is located in East Asia and is home to nearly 72 million people.
According to the 2000 U.S. census, approximately 1.3 million people of Korean
descent live in the United States.
Korean Americans
Copyright 2007 by Infobase Publishing
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Choi, Anne Soon.
Korean Americans / Anne Soon Choi.
p. cm. (The new immigrants)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7910-8788-3 (hardcover)
1. Korean AmericansHistoryJuvenile literature. 2. Korean Americans
Social conditionsJuvenile literature. 3. ImmigrantsUnited States
HistoryJuvenile literature. 4. ImmigrantsUnited StatesSocial conditionsJuvenile literature. 5. KoreaEmigration and immigrationsJuvenile
literature. 6. United StatesEmigrations and immigrationsJuvenile literature. I. Title.
E184.K6C475 2006
2006019745
973.04957dc
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Contents

Introduction
11
1 Koreans in North America
21
2 The Home Country
3 The First Wave: Korean Immigration
to Hawaii
33
44
4 Koreans on the Mainland
5 Contemporary Korean Communities
in North America
54
63
6 Korean Adoptees
72
7 Los Angeles, 1992
8 Achievements and Challenges for
Korean Immigrants
82
9 Notable Korean Americans

10 Conclusion
109
Chronology and Timeline
112
Notes
115
Glossary
118
Bibliography
121
Further Reading
124
Index
126
98
Introduction
Robert D. Johnston
At the time of the publication of this series, there are few more
pressing political issues in the country than immigration. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants are filling the streets of major
U.S. cities to protect immigrant rights. And conflict in Congress
has reached a boiling point, with members of the Senate and
House fighting over the proper policy toward immigrants who
have lived in the United States for years but who entered the
country illegally.
Generally, Republicans and Democrats are split down partisan lines in a conflict of this sort. However, in this dispute, some
otherwise conservative Republicans are taking a more liberal
position on the immigration issueprecisely because of their
own immigrant connections. For example, Pete Domenici, the
longest-serving senator in the history of the state of New Mexico, recently told his colleagues about one of the most chilling
days of his life.
Introduction
In 1943, during World War II, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) set out to monitor U.S. citizens who had ties with
Italy, Germany, and Japan. At the time, Domenici was 10 or 11
years old and living in Albuquerque, with his parentsAlda,
the president of the local PTA, and Cherubino, an Italian-born
grocer who already had become a U.S. citizen. Alda, who had arrived in the United States with her parents when she was three,
thought she had her papers in order, but she found out otherwise when federal agents swept in and whisked her awayleaving young Pete in tears.
It turned out that Alda was an illegal immigrant. She was,
however, clearly not a security threat, and the government released her on bond. Alda then quickly prepared the necessary
paperwork and became a citizen. More than six decades later,
her son decided to tell his influential colleagues Aldas story, because, he says, he wanted them to remember that the sons and
daughters of this centurys illegal immigrants could end up in
the Senate one day, too.1
Given the increasing ease of global travel, immigration is
becoming a significant political issue throughout the world. Yet
the United States remains in many ways the most receptive country toward immigrants that history has ever seen. The Statue of
Liberty is still one of our nations most important symbols.
A complex look at history, however, reveals that, despite the
many success stories, there are many more sobering accounts
like that of Pete Domenici. The United States has offered unparalleled opportunities to immigrants from Greece to Cuba, Thailand to Poland. Yet immigrants have consistently also suffered
from persistentand sometimes murderousdiscrimination.
This series is designed to inform students of both the achievements and the hardships faced by some of the immigrant groups
that have arrived in the United States since Congress passed the
Immigration and Naturalization Services Act in 1965. The United
States was built on the ingenuity and hard work of its nations immigrants, and these new immigrantsprimarily from Asia and
Korean Americans
Latin Americahave, over the last several decades, added their
unique attributes to American culture.
Immigrants from the following countries are featured in
The New Immigrants series: India, Jamaica, Korea, Mexico,
the Philippines, Ukraine, and Vietnam. Each book focuses on
the present-day life of these ethnic groupsand not just in the
United States, but in Canada as well. The books explore their
culture, their success in various occupations, the economic
hardships they face, and their political struggles. Yet all the authors in the series recognize that we cannot understand any of
these groups without also coming to terms with their history
a history that involves not just their time in the United States,
but also the lasting legacy of their homelands.
Mexican immigrants, along with their relatives and allies,
have been the driving force behind the recent public defense of
immigrant rights. Michael Schroeder explains how distinctive
the situation of Mexican immigrants is, particularly given the
fluid border between the United States and its southern neighbor. Indeed, not only is the border difficult to defend, but some
Mexicans (and scholars) see it as an artificial barrierthe result
of nineteenth-century imperialist conquest.
Vietnam is perhaps the one country outside of Mexico with
the most visible recent connection to the history of the United
States. One of the most significant consequences of our tragic
war there was a flood of immigrants, most of whom had backed
the losing side. Liz Sonneborn demonstrates how the historic
conflicts over Communism in the Vietnamese homeland continue to play a role in the United States, more than three decades after the end of the American war.
In turn, Filipinos have also been forced out of their native land, but for them economic distress has been the primary cause. Jon Sterngass points out how immigration from the
Philippinesas is the case with many Asian countriesreaches
back much further in American history than is generally known,
with the search for jobs a constant factor.
Introduction
Koreans who have come to this country also demonstrate
just how connected recent immigrants are to their homelands
while forging a permanent new life in the United States. As
Anne Soon Choi reveals, the history of twentieth-century Koreadue to Japanese occupation, division of the country after
World War II, and the troubling power of dictators for much of
postwar historyplayed a crucial role in shaping the culture of
Korean Americans.
South Asians are, arguably, the greatest source of change in
immigration to the United States since 1965. Padma Rangaswamy, an Indian-American scholar and activist, explores how
the recent flow of Indians to this country has brought not only
delicious food and colorful clothes, but also great technical
expertise, as well as success in areas ranging from business to
spelling bees.
Jamaican Americans are often best known for their music,
as well as for other distinctive cultural traditions. Heather Horst
and Andrew Garner show how these traditions can, in part, be
traced to the complex and often bitter political rivalries within
Jamaicaconflicts that continue to shape the lives of Jamaican
immigrants.
Finally, the story of Ukrainian Americans helps us understand that even white immigrants suffered considerable
hardship, and even discrimination in this land of opportunity.
Still, the story that John Radzilowski portrays is largely one of
achievement, particularly with the building of successful ethnic
communities.
I would like to conclude by mentioning how proud I am to
be the editor of this very important series. When I grew up in
small-town Oregon during the 1970s, it was difficult to see that
immigrants played much of a role in my white bread life. Even
worse than that ignorance, however, were the lessons I learned
from my relatives. They were, unfortunately, quite suspicious
of all those they defined as outsiders. Throughout his life, my
grandfather believed that the Japanese who immigrated to his
10 Korean Americans
rural valley in central Oregon were helping Japan during World
War II by collecting scrap from gum wrappers to make weapons. My uncles, who were also fruit growers, were openly hostile
toward the Mexican immigrants without whom they could not
have harvested their apples and pears.
Fortunately, like so many other Americans, the great waves
of immigration since 1965 have taught me to completely rethink my conception of America. I live in Chicago, a block from
Devon Avenue, one of the primary magnets of Indian and Pakistani immigrations in this country (Padma Rangaswamy mentions Devon in her fine book in this series on Indian Americans). Conversely, when my family and I lived in Storm Lake,
Iowa, in the early 1990s, immigrants from Laos, Mexico, and
Somalia were also decisively reshaping the face of that small
town. Throughout America, we live in a new countryone not
without problems, but one that is incredibly exciting and vibrant. I hope that this series helps you appreciate even more
one of the most special qualities of the American heritage.
Note
1. Rachel L. Swarns, An Immigration Debate Framed by Family
Ties, New York Times, April 4, 2006.
Robert D. Johnston
Chicago, Illinois
April 2006
1
Koreans in
North America
orn in 1900, Mary Paik Lee immigrated to America with

her family in 1905. The family was part of the earliest wave
of Korean immigrants to North America. The Paiks experience,
like those of other immigrants to the United States and Canada,
is a story of struggle and hardship, as well as one of opportunity and success. Most important, though, it is about ordinary
people who had to make difficult decisions as they left everything they knew to begin a new life in a new land. In describing
her familys decision to migrate to the United States, Mary Paik
Lee put it this way:
Mother told me there had been a lot of discussion for
several days before the final decision was made for my
parents to leave Korea to find a better life elsewhere.
Father was reluctant to leave, but his parents insisted,
saying that his presence would not help them. They
11
12 Korean Americans
knew what would happen to them in the near future.
They were prepared to face great hardship or worse,
but they wanted at least one member of their family
to survive and live a better life somewhere else. Such
strong, quiet courage in ordinary people in the face of
danger is really something to admire and remember
always. 1
This desire to live a better life has been one of the central
forces behind Korean immigration throughout the twentieth
century. The earliest Korean immigrants were recruited to
work in the sugarcane fields in Hawaii around 1900. Like other
Asian immigrant groups of this time period, including Japanese
and Chinese immigrants, Koreans experienced discrimination
from mainstream society because of their racial and cultural
differences. At the same time, in the first half of the century,
Number of Immigrants Admitted to

the United States from Korea, 19492004
Year of Entry
Number Admitted
18201948*
19491950
107
19511960
6,231
19611970
34,526
19711980
267,638
19811990
333,746
19912000
164,166
20012004
71,665
*Prior to 1949, immigration data for Korean Americans was not

reported separately.
Source: Department of Homeland Security Web site. Available
online at http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/yearbook/2004/table2.xls
Koreans in North America 13

the experiences of Korean immigrants were unique: In addition
to the struggle of adjusting to a new country, Koreans had to
face the occupation of their homeland by Japan. As a result, for
Koreans in North America, the struggle to free their homeland
from Japanese colonial rule through the Korean independence
movement was a powerful force, until 1945, when Japan was
defeated in World War II.
It is also important to understand how place mattered for
the first wave of Korean immigrants. The experiences of Korean
immigrants in Hawaii differed greatly from their counterparts
on the mainland. This difference was the result of a number
of factors. In Hawaii, given the dynamics of labor migration,
Asian immigrants significantly outnumbered whites, which
Ronald Moon, chief justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court, is a

third-generation Korean Americanboth of his grandparents came to
Hawaii during the first wave of immigration from 1903 to 1905. In
2003, Moon was one of many Korean Americans who celebrated the
centennial of his peoples initial immigration to the United States.
14 Korean Americans
First-Person Account
I am korean
n the eventful days following Japans bombing of Pearl Harbor

on December 7, 1941, which marked the entry of the United
States into World War II, the response of Korean immigrant communities in Hawaii and California ranged from fear to hopefulness. Koreans in America were hopeful because U.S. entry into
the war against Japan could potentially mean the liberation of
their homeland from Japanese colonial rule. At the same time,
Korean immigrants found themselves in a difficult situation for
two reasons: (1) They were classified as enemy aliens, because
they were considered Japanese subjects. (2) They were denied
U.S. citizenship, because of revisions to U.S. immigration law in
the decades before World War II.
As a result, Korean immigrants during World War II struggled
to distinguish themselves from the Japanese. This was a difficult
task, as the majority of Americans thought of Asian immigrants
as one and the same, and could not tell the difference between
various Asian nationalities. One way Korean immigrants distinguished themselves from the Japanese was to engage in antiJapanese activities. As one observer noted in the 1930s about
the Koreans, Singly and collectively they hate the Japanese; all
Japanese.* During World War II, to demonstrate their anti-Japanese feelings and to make sure that they would not be confused
with the Japanese, Koreans in the United States wore buttons
that declared, I am Korean.
Like many other countries during the first half of the twentieth
century, Korea found itself under the colonial rule of a more powerful nation. Unwillingly colonized by Japan in 1910, the struggle
created a very different social dynamic. Also in this time period,

the Korean population in Hawaii was much larger than on the
mainland. On the eve of World War II, there were about 9,000
for independence emerged as a significant organizing force in Korea and in Korean immigrant communities throughout the world.
Kyung-Soo Cha recalled being a little girl in Korea:
I didnt know what the word independence meant, so one
day I asked my mother. The adults these days talk about
independence a lot. What does it mean? My mother replied,
The Japanese came to our country to exploit and rule us.
Independence means that we can live by ourselves. Dont let
anyone hear you saying the word. The Japanese will catch you
and beat you.**
Korean immigrants in the United States, especially in Hawaii

and the American West, played a central role in the struggle for
Korean liberation. This was due to the fact that Korean immigrants
to the United States had political freedom and economic opportunity, which their counterparts in Korea, who lived under a system
of repressive colonial rule, did not have. This political situation in
Asia guaranteed that Koreans in the United States would eagerly
support the U.S. military action against Japan as a way to secure
Korean independence. Although Korean immigrant communities
were actively involved in the politics of their homeland, though,
it is also important to keep in mind that Korean immigrants were
deeply invested in their lives in the United States. Even in a period of profound anti-Asian discrimination, Koreans struggled to
demonstrate that they could be both Korean and American.
* Q
uoted in Ronald Takaki, Strangers from A Different Shore: A History of
Asian Americans (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989), 281.
** Kyung-Cha Cha, Pumpkin Flower and Patriotism (Los Angeles: Korean American Research Center, 1991), 27.
Korean immigrants in Hawaii, whereas on the mainland, the

Korean population (largely concentrated in Southern California) numbered about 1,200.
16 Korean Americans
Today, Koreans are one of the largest and most visible Asian
immigrant groups in North America. Korean communities exist
not only in major cities like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and
Toronto but also in unexpected places like Memphis and Atlanta.
Korean settlement over a wide area resulted from a number of factors, including patterns of post-1965 immigration to North America, economic opportunity, and historic ties between the United
States, Canada, and Korea. At the same time, it is important to remember that the history of Korean immigrants dates to the early
part of the twentieth century. Thus, Korean immigration can be
best understood in two distinct waves, pre-1965 and post-1965.
THE POLITICS OF EXCLUSION

Asian immigrants, in addition to the struggles of adapting
to a new country, language, and culture, also faced racial
discrimination. Discrimination targeting Asian immigrants
dated to the nineteenth century and the movement to exclude
the Chinese from the United States. As large numbers of
Chinese immigrants entered California with the discovery of
gold at Sutters Mill in 1848, native-born whites saw Chinese
immigrants as an economic threat. Employers were eager to
embrace a Chinese immigrant labor force that was willing to
work long hours for low wages, but the use of Chinese labor
threatened the livelihood of working-class whites. Chinese
immigrants were also viewed negatively because of their visible
racial difference. Those supporting Chinese exclusion argued
that Asians could not assimilate into American life. In 1869,
Henry George, a prominent journalist, argued:
The Chinese have a civilization and history of their own; a
vanity which causes them to look down on all other races,
habits of thought rendered permanent by being stamped
upon countless generations. From present appearances
we shall have a permanent Chinese population. . . . A
population born in China, expecting to return to China,

living here in a little China of its own, and with the slightest
attachment to the countryutter heathens, treacherous,
sensual, cowardly, and cruel.2
The anti-Chinese movement originated on the West

Coast, but it quickly became a national phenomenon, as well
as a campaign to exclude Chinese immigrant laborers. This
campaign resulted in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the
first American immigration policy that excluded any group of
individuals based on race and national origin. Significantly,
the Chinese Exclusion Act ultimately became the foundation
Large-scale immigration to the United States by Korean Americans did

not occur until Congress passed the Immigration and Naturalization
Services Act of 1965. The act abolished the national quota system
established by the Immigration Act of 1924. As a result, many Koreans
settled in cities such as San Francisco. Pictured here is a group of
Korean Americans who are welcoming then-Korean President Chung Hee
Park at San Franciscos Moffett Naval Air Station in August 1969.
18 Korean Americans
and model for the exclusion of nearly all Asian immigrants
by the 1920s.
With the ban on Chinese labor, employers turned to the
Japanese as a reliable source of labor. Anti-Asian sentiment was
expanded, then, to include the Japanese, and Japanese laborers
were excluded through the Gentlemens Agreement of 1907. Unlike
the Chinese, however, who were singled out by name in the 1882
Chinese Exclusion Act, by the early part of the twentieth century,
Japan had emerged as a world power. Consequently, it was
difficult for the United States to single out Japanese immigrants
in the same way as the Chinese had been singled out, and this
resulted in the carefully worded Gentlemens Agreement. The
anti-Asian sentiment of this agreement was clear, however.
In the push for the exclusion of Japanese and Korean immigrants, the Asiatic Exclusion League declared: The nations of
Asia are nations apart from those of the West, nor do they wish to
be otherwise. The Asiatic can never be other than an Asiatic, however much he may imitate the dress of the white man, nor will he
ever have the slightest concern for our laws, except to evade them;
nor with the Government, except to cajole and deceive it.3
Although no specific law excluded Korean immigrants by
name, because of the colonization of Korea by Japan in 1910, Koreans in the United States were classified as Japanese nationals
and were barred by the 1907 Gentlemens Agreement. As a result,
the first period of Korean migration was quite brief. Both the
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the 1907 Gentlemens Agreement, however, singled out laborers and left a loophole for students, diplomats, merchants, and the wives of men already in the
United States. For Korean immigration, this loophole was very
important, especially for the continued migration of women and
students. Anti-immigration sentiment, in general, escalated in
the United States in the early part of the twentieth century, and
the loophole was closed by the Immigration Act of 1924. This act
established a quota system based on national origin and prohibited all Asian immigration. As a result, mass Asian immigration

was halted until the Immigration and Naturalization Services Act
of 1965, which dismantled the quota system.
When Korean independence came in 1945 (Japan had controlled Korea since 1910) as a result of the Allied Powers defeat
of Japan during World War II, the majority of Korean immigrants remained in the United States and formed the foundation for future immigration. The 1950s witnessed new Korean
immigration to the United States, including military brides, orphans, and college students. Mass Korean immigration did not
begin until after 1965, however, with the dramatic change in
American immigration policy. The mass migration of Koreans
to the United States profoundly changed American society in a
number of ways. The influx of Asian immigrants changed the
way that race was discussed and analyzed in the United States. In
addition, settlement of Korean immigrants in urban areas had
a significant impact on regional economies as Koreans began
to dominate particular economic niches. It also caused conflict,
most notably between Koreans and African Americans, which
was infamously documented in the media coverage of the 1992
Los Angeles Riots.
Although the context of contemporary Korean immigration
is very different from earlier waves of Korean migration, post1965 immigrants share many of the same experiences as earlier
Korean immigrants. These experiences included the difficulties
of adapting to a new country and the promises of opportunity.
Study Questions
1. Why do Koreans immigrate to North America?
2. What is unique about the Korean immigrant
experience?
(continues on next page)
20 Korean Americans
(continued from previous page)
3. What is significant about the 1882 Chinese

Exclusion Act?
4. What prompted anti-Asian feelings in the United

States?
5. How were Koreans excluded from immigrating to

the United States?
2
The Home Country
ccording to legend, a very long time ago, a she-bear and a

tigress who lived in a cave together prayed to Hwanung,
the son of heaven, to become human. Moved by their prayers,
he provided them with special food20 cloves of garlic and
herbsand instructed them to stay out of sunlight for 100 days.
Finding this too difficult, the tigress quickly gave up. The shebear persevered, however, and in 21 days, she was transformed
into a woman. The woman was overjoyed at first, but without a
companion, she became increasingly sad. So, she prayed under
a sandalwood tree for a child. Again, Hwanung was moved by
her prayers and made her his wife, and she soon bore a son.
They named him Tangun, which means sandalwood.
Tangun grew into a wise and powerful leader and founded
Gojoseon, the land of the morning calm in 2333 b.c. He ruled
benevolently, and Gojoseon prospered. Tangun is recognized as
the founder of Korea.
21
22 Korean Americans
Gojoseon, like other less-powerful kingdoms in the region,
eventually fell under Chinese control. (Korea borders China to
the north and west.) Thus began a long period of Chinese influence on the Korean Peninsula. By the third century a.d., however, the Chinese were defeated, and a number of competing
states emerged. The geographic region today known as Korea
emerged in the tenth century with the unification of three kingdomsPaekche, Silla, and Koguryo.
THE HERMIT KINGDOM

The unification of the Korean Peninsula did not change the fact
that Korea existed in the shadow of her more powerful neighbors. One important strategy that Korea adopted to maintain
its sovereignty was to establish a close relationship with China,
beginning in the fourteenth century, where Korea paid tribute
to China. Consequently, as a little brother of China, Korea
remained independent and benefited from Chinas protection.
Korea attempted to maintain its position by closing its borders
to all trade and travel except that with China, which earned Korea the nickname of the Hermit Kingdom.
This close relationship between the two countries placed
Korea within the Chinese world order.4 Chinas impact on
Korea cannot be underestimatedthe relationship affected
political institutions and cultural influences, and introduced
Confucianism and Buddhism to Korea. Despite Chinas influence, however, Korea maintained its own cultural and political
identity.
The big brotherlittle brother relationship between
China and Korea lasted well into the nineteenth century.
Eventually, however, enormous change came to Asia. The
combination of internal political unrest and the opening
of China by Western countries weakened Chinas position in
Asia. This, combined with the modernization of Japan and
Japans interest in territorial expansion, left Korea in a vulnerable position.
The Home Country 23

confucianism in korea
onfucianism has been one of the most important and longlasting influences in Korea. It was introduced to Korea from
China during the Three Kingdoms period, beginning in 1 b.c. Specifically, Confucianism as a belief system provides a clear guide
for all relationships: between rulers and subjects, husbands and
wives, parents and children, and elders and youth. Thus, Confucianism emphasizes proper and harmonious social relationships
in all aspects of life, including government, the legal system, the
family, and society. It allowed Korea to maintain a stable sociopolitical system on the peninsula and, in general, peaceful relations
with her more powerful neighbors.
Confucianism in Korea thrived during the Joseon Dynasty
(a.d. 13921910). Not only did its belief system serve as the
guiding principles that governed the yangban (elite) class, but it
had a profound influence on Korean culture: During this period,
an exam system for civil service was established and encouraged
artistic and literary endeavors.
At the end of the nineteenth century, Confucianism in Korea
went into decline with the collapse of Chinas Qing Dynasty and
the entry of Western countries into Asia. In addition, the colonization of Korea by Japan (19101945) also worked to diminish the
influence of Confucian thought on the Korean Peninsula.
Today, it is clear that Confucianism still maintains an important influence in Korea, particularly in the arts. The impact of
Confucianism can also still be seen in the organization of Korean
society, with its emphasis on hierarchy and proper social relationships, both in public and private life.
Koreas worst fears came true in the early part of the twentieth century, as Japan emerged as a world power after defeating China in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and Russia in the
Russo-Japanese War in 1905. By 1910, Japan had made Korea
into a Japanese colony.
24 Korean Americans
During the late 1800s, Japan emerged as a world power and began
expanding its territorial holdings in Asia. By 1910, Japan forced Korea
to sign the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty, which formally ceded Korea
to Japan. Japanese gendarmes (police officers), such as the ones
pictured in this 1910 photograph, often meted out punishment against
those Koreans who spoke out against Japanese rule.
KOREA UNDER JAPANESE RULE

For Japan, the colonization of Korea was the first step in the expansion of the Japanese empire. Although on the international
stage, Japan declared that the colonization was in the best interest of Korea, in reality, Japanese colonial rule was brutal and
violent. Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names, speaking Korean was prohibited, and Korean natural resources were
exported to feed the growing Japanese empire. Koreans were
made second-class citizens in their own country. One woman
recalled:
The Home Country 25

By Summer, 1917, many Koreans had a beaten, frightened,
searching look. Now there were thousands of Japanese civilians in our country. Wealth was being drained out of
Korea. Many of our rich friends were becoming poorer
and poorer every year. And the poor were pushed toward
starvation. Greedy Japanese seized the richest rice fields.
When they needed shelter, they took Korean homes. Our
railroads and banks fell before the economic onslaught.5
Koreans did not accept colonization passively. Despite the

brutality of Japanese rule, Koreans resisted colonization as
much as possible. The Korean independence movement was
the most visible resistance. Not only did Koreans struggle for
freedom in their own country, but those who had immigrated
to China, Manchuria, and the United States emerged as crucial
players in the independence movement.
The most dramatic moment in the independence movement came in 1919the March First Incident. The death of
King Gojong, the last emperor of Korea, provided an opportunity for Koreans to demonstrate their anti-Japanese feelings in a peaceful mass demonstration. The Japanese colonial
government allowed Koreans to pay their respects to King
Gojong as he lay in state in Seoul, the countrys capital. During this mass demonstration, the Korean Declaration of Independence was read. An estimated 2 million Koreans took
part in these peaceful demonstrations. The Japanese response
was swift and brutal, however, as an estimated 7,500 Koreans
were killed and 45,000 arrested throughout the country. This
violent political repression against those who worked for Korean independence was echoed by Min-ja Sur, a schoolteacher,
who described the response of the Japanese to the March First
Movement of 1919: The Japanese went crazy. They beat up
people and killed thousands of Koreans while many were arrested and later killed.6
26 Korean Americans
The March First Incident was a critical turning point for
Korean freedom. International outrage forced Japan to reconsider its colonial policies. It also began a new period of activity
in the Korean independence movement in Korea and overseas.
Outside Korea, Korean independence activities included guerrilla attacks along the Manchurian-Korean border, the establishment of an exile Korean government in China, and diplomatic efforts and financial support from the United States. In
the end, the defeat of Japan at the end of World War II liberated
Korea.
THE TWO KOREAS

Although the end of the war in 1945 brought freedom from
Japan, it was only the beginning of Koreas trouble. Years of colonial rule left Korea in ruins. As a temporary measure, Korea
was divided into two occupational zones, with the Soviet Union
in the north and the United States in the south, until a plan for
rebuilding Korea could be worked out. This division was met
by outrage by Koreans everywhere, all of whom demanded a
unified Korea.
The hopes for a unified Korea quickly disappeared as
pro-Communist and anti-Communist politics came into
play. In 1948, two separate nationswith opposing political and social beliefswere established with the division of
the Korean Peninsula at the 38th parallel into North Korea
(Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) and South Korea (Republic of Korea).
In 1950, the outbreak of the Korean War ended any hopes
for reunification. This civil war was at one level about reunifying the peninsula, but it was also about the larger dynamics of
the cold war, as the Soviet Union and China became allies of
North Korea and the United States and United Nations sided
with South Korea. Nearly three years of battle and destruction
did little to resolve the conflict on the peninsula.
The Home Country 27
The Korean War (1950 to 1953) greatly affected both North and South
Koreamore than 2 million Koreans lost their lives in the conflict and
the infrastructure of both countries was virtually destroyed. Pictured here
are residents of Pyongyang, North Korea, fleeing across a damaged bridge
that crosses the Taedong River in advance of Chinese Communist troops
in December 1950.
28 Korean Americans
The cost of the war was enormous. More than 2 million
Koreans from the north and the south lost their lives. This was
in addition to the massive loss of life of Chinese and American
military forces. The war, which was fought on the peninsula,
virtually destroyed the infrastructure of North and South Korea, including roads, bridges, government houses, schools, and
private homes.
The war failed to reunite the peninsula and, in fact, hardened the division between North and South Korea. Despite being referred to as the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the border between the two Koreas is one of the most militarized regions in
the world. In proportion to its population, North Korea has one
of the worlds largest military forces, and U.S. troops are still a
significant presence in South Korea. To date, the war is technically not over, because a peace treaty was never signed.
NORTH KOREA
Today, North Korea, with a population of 22 million, is one of
the most isolated and mysterious countries in the world. It is
considered the last truly Communist country. Led by Kim Il
Sung, a former guerrilla leader, North Korea was an important
part of the cold war world order from 1948 until his death in
1994. Supported politically and financially by China and the
Soviet Union, North Korea maintains its Communist regime.
Its reliance on China and the Soviet Union increasingly isolated
North Korea from international trade and credit, however. At
the same time, the escalating conflict between the Soviet Union
and China left North Korea in a vulnerable position. North
Koreas isolation was further compounded by a political system
built around Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong-il, who officially became the leader of North Korea in 1997.
Kim Jong-ils rise to power in the 1990s corresponded
with the steady deterioration of the North Korean economy
and the general decline in the standard of living. This deterioration was further compounded by mass famine between
The Home Country 29

1996 and 1999, which resulted in nearly one million deaths
and untold suffering. Gerald Bourke, a representative of the
United Nations (UNs) World Food Program, described the
desperation of North Koreans as they turned to seaweed and
grass as a food source: You see people of all ages going up
into the hillsides with bags and sacks and coming back down
with grasses. You see women on the seashores scavenging for
edible seaweeds.7
The crisis of the famine forced North Korea to open its
borders to organizations such as the Red Cross and the United
Nations. Although mass starvation was avoided, reports indicate that North Korea, despite its refusal to acknowledge its
internal problems, is in crisis. In addition, despite the massive aid provided by the West, South Korea, and Japan, the
North Korean government has continued its hostile criticism
of these countries.
Because of the isolation of North Korea and its strict
monitoring and control of foreign visitors, until recently
very little was known about daily life in the Communist nation. The combination of famine and a repressive government, however, prompted a number of North Koreans to
defect to China, with South Korea as their final destination.
North Korean defectors often recount tales of oppression
and brutality in North Korea. A Communist party official
who had smuggled a radio from China to listen to music
learned that someone had revealed his secret. He said, It
could have been my children who said something outside.
It could have been my friend; no one knew. If a farmer or
laborer had a radio, he could have been released. But I was
an official. In my case, it would have been torture and a life
sentence in a political prisoners camp.8 Faced with such a
response, he chose to save his life. He left his wife and two
small children and crossed into China, where he spent three
years as a fugitive until Christian missionaries helped him
make his way to South Korea.
30 Korean Americans
Although the immediate crisis of famine has passed, the future of North Korea is uncertain. After the terrorist events of September 11, 2001, there is concern over North Koreas nuclear arms
program and its impact on the political and economic stability of
the region, which includes China, Japan, and South Korea.
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea has an equally complicated history. The country
was occupied by the United States after World War II. Then, in
1948, the U.S. government brought Syngman Rhee to power.
Rhee was a key leader in the Korean independence movement
in the United States. He was forced to resign, however, in the
face of massive student uprisings that protested his undemocratic policies in the 1960s. A brief period of civil rule was
brought to an end when Park Chung Hee established a dictatorship in South Korea through a military coup. The dictatorship
lasted until Hee was assassinated in 1979. Significantly, under
Hees rule, South Korea began its dramatic economic growth;
however, civil unrest against the repressive military government
continued. After Hees assassination in 1979, though, a process
of political reformone that would establish a genuine democracy in South Koreafinally began.
By the 1990s, South Korea had emerged as one of the worlds
largest economies. The country has become known for brands
such as Hyundai, Samsung, and LG, as well as the production of
automobiles, cell phones, and a wide range of electronic goods.
Currently, with a population of 48 million, South Korea is the
worlds eleventh-largest economy. In addition, South Korea is
one of the most wired nations in the world, with inexpensive
and mass access to the Internet.
South Korea has made its mark on the world in a number
of ways. In Asia, South Korea is home to a large number of
Christians, nearly a third of its population. South Korean
immigrants have settled throughout the world. Culturally,
The Home Country 31

South Koreans have excelled in world sports, including
soccer and golf. Korean soap operas have gained worldwide
popularity, and Korean films have been met with critical
acclaim.
CURRENT SITUATION
Although attempts have been made on the part of South
Korea to ease the tensions between the two countries, there
has been little progress. The most publicized and moving
effort has been the family reunion campaigns, where families separated by the Korean War were briefly allowed to reunite.
The following is an account of one such reunion:
Sister Shin-ho! Sister Shin-ho! You are alive, her
younger South Korean sister, Bu-ja, cried, as they embraced. Bu-ja attended the reunion in the place of their
93-year-old mother, who died two days earlier. Until the
moment of her death, our mother could never close her
eyes peacefully without seeing you, Bu-ja told her sister.
Lee Shin-ho sobbed as she knelt in front of a portrait of
their mother.9
At the same time, it is clear, especially in the aftermath of

a devastating famine in the late 1990s and from the accounts
of North Koreans who have defected to the south, that the
North Korean regime cannot maintain its current position
and policies. This is of great concern to China and South Korea, the countries that would be forced to take in North Korean refugees if North Korea should collapse. North Korea has
also gained attention for its nuclear program and has been
declared a part of the axis of evil by President George W.
Bush.
32 Korean Americans
Study Questions
1. Who was Tangun?
2. How would you characterize the relationship
between China and Korea?
3. Why was Korea called the Hermit Kingdom?

4. What is Confucianism? How has it shaped Korean
society?
5. What led to the division of Korea?

6. Name some differences between North and South
Korea.
3
The First Wave:
Korean Immigration
to Hawaii
n the early part of the twentieth century, the picture bride

system was established to allow single Korean and Japanese
men to marry at a time when Japanese and Korean laborers
were prohibited from entering the United States due to the 1907
Gentlemens Agreement. The law left a loophole open for wives
and families of Japanese and Korean immigrant men already in
the United States to enter the country. Thus, potential brides
exchanged photos with their prospective husbands, and if all
was agreeable, the couple was married in Korea by having the
brides name entered in the husbands family register. Once they
were married, these picture brides could apply for passports to
join their husbands in the United States. The picture bride system allowed for the emigration of more than 20,000 Japanese
women and 1,200 Korean women in the first two decades of the
twentieth century. Once American immigration officials caught
on to the practice, though, the picture bride system came to an
33
34 Korean Americans
end. All loopholes for Asian immigration were closed off with
the Immigration Act of 1924. One Korean immigrant picture
bride (see sidebar below) explained her reasons for emigrating
from Korea:
My parents were very poor. One year, a heavy rain
came, a flood, the crops all washed down. Oh it was
a very hard time. . . . Under the Japanese, no freedom.
Not even free talking. Hawaiis a free place, everybody
living well. Hawaii had freedom, so if you like talk, you
can talk; you like work, you can work. I want to come,
picture brides
ne Korean immigrant woman recalled her initial response,

as a 15-year-old picture bride, to meeting her husband for
the first time: When I first saw my husband, I could not believe
my eyes. His hair was grey and I could not see any resemblance
to the picture I had. He was forty-six years old.*
Like this young bride who expressed shock at her much older
husband when she saw him for the first time, many picture brides
found themselves married to men several years their senior. Many
men who desperately wanted a wife oftentimes resorted to deception. Not only did they send pictures of themselves at a younger
age, but they sometimes substituted photos of younger men. Lying about their age was not the only way these men deceived
prospective wives. Many sent photos of themselves posing with
cars and houses they did not own or in rented or borrowed suits.
Consequently, many picture brides found themselves not only
with much older men but with working-class men with meager
resources.
Faced with the choice of settling down with husbands they
had never seen or returning to Korea, the vast majority of Korean
picture brides, for better or for worse, chose to stay in Hawaii. As
wives of laborers, many Korean picture brides found themselves
The First Wave: Korean Immigration to Hawaii 35

so, I sent my picture. Ah marriage! Then I could go to
America! That land of freedom with streets paved of
gold! Since I became ten, Ive been forbidden to step
outside our gates, just like the rest of the girls of my
days. So becoming a picture bride would be my answer
and release.10
Like this picture bride, the earliest Korean immigrants came

to America for economic, political, and individual opportunity.
Beginning in 1903, the first Koreans arrived in Hawaii aboard
the S.S. Gaelic. Recruited as labor for the sugar plantations,
working side by side with their husbands in the sugarcane fields.

One woman recalled,
The sugar cane fields were endless and the stalks were
twice the height of myself. Now that I look back, I thank
goodness for the height, for if I had seen how far the fields
stretched, I probably would have fainted from knowing how
much work was ahead. My waistline got slimmer and my
back ached from bending over all the time to cut the sugar
cane.**
Picture brides were essential to Korean immigrant communities, given the gender imbalance of Korean migrants.
Picture brides not only contributed their labor, but they also
ensured that a second generation of Korean Americans was
possible and that the growth of Korean immigrant communities would continue.
* Quoted in Ronald Takaki, Strangers From a Different Shore: A History
of Asian Americans (Boston: Little, Brown, 1989), 72.
** Ibid., 137.
36 Korean Americans
these 120 immigrants would be joined by more than 7,000
other immigrants, the vast majority of them men, to meet
the demands of the Hawaiian sugar industry. The window for
Korean immigration, about three years, was brief in comparison
to that of other Asian immigrant groups, however. Anti-Asian
immigrant sentiment in the United States, which first targeted
Chinese immigrants, quickly expanded to include Japanese and
Korean immigrants. Koreans were excluded from immigration
to the United States through the 1907 Gentlemens Agreement.
The agreement banned the immigration of Japanese laborers,
and by 1905 Japan had made it clear to the world that Korea
would eventually be incorporated into the growing Japanese
empire.
LEAVING THE LAND

OF THE MORNING CALM
Similar to the experiences of other American immigrants, a
number of push-and-pull factors contributed to the migration
of Koreans. The late nineteenth century brought enormous
change to Asia, and Korea was not exempt. Historically, Korea,
a small mountainous nation, had been at the mercy of her
larger and more powerful neighbors, China and Japan. This
was true in the late nineteenth century, too. As mentioned
previously, China, Koreas protector for hundreds of years,
became weaker politically, and Korea was left vulnerable to the
territorial expansion of Japan, which in turn created political
instability in Korea. By 1910, Japans territorial interest in Korea
turned into formal occupation, and Korea was made a Japanese
colony. Colonization brought enormous hardship to Korea as
Japan exploited Korean natural resources and labor. A central
strategy of Japan in gaining control over Korea was to steadily
dismantle Korean culture and identity. Consequently, the desire
for political freedom emerged as a significant push factor for
Korean immigrants, especially for those who believed that they
could work for Korean independence in the United States. One
During the early 1900s, Japanese colonization and the resultant

poverty it created forced many Koreans to leave their homeland
and immigrate to the United States. Many East Asian immigrants,
including Koreans, entered the United States at Angel Island,
California, which is pictured here.
immigrant declared, When I saw my country fall into the hands

of the Japanese aggressors, I was filled with sorrow, but, unable
to do much to help, I applied for the status of an immigrant and
came to Hawaii hoping to learn something in order to help my
country.11
At the same time, as it was for other Asian immigrants,
poverty was a significant push factor that encouraged Korean immigration in the early part of the twentieth century. A
cycle of famine and drought created enormous hardship for
many ordinary Koreans, and as a result, immigrating to Hawaii looked attractive. One Korean immigrant recalled, We
had nothing to eat. There was absolutely no way we could
survive. There were no opportunities for work of any kind
38 Korean Americans
and conditions were bad. It was then that we heard of a man
who was talking a lot about the opportunities in Hawaii.
He said it was a land of opportunity where everybody was
rich.12
As for pull factors, in the latter part of the nineteenth
century, the U.S. demand for sugar increased dramatically.
Rather than importing sugar at a higher cost from the Caribbean, American businessmen turned to the tropical climate
of Hawaii, an American territory, to expand the small sugar
industry that was already in place. The cultivation of sugar
required a large, reliable labor force for the harvesting of sugarcane and processing of sugarcane into sugar.
At first, Chinese immigrants were imported as contract
laborers. The contract labor system paid a worker the cost of
travel to the United States. He or she would then spend an
agreed amount of time working off the cost of passage. Given
the backbreaking nature of harvesting and processing sugarcane, it is not surprising that many Chinese refused to renew
their contracts. In response, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association (HSPA) recruited Japanese laborers in significant
numbers. Again, the HSPA found that many Japanese, like the
Chinese, were reluctant to renew their contracts and instead
sought better employment opportunities on the mainland. In
addition, the large number of Japanese laborers concentrated in the sugar industry in the Hawaiian Islands led to labor
unrest. This unrest took the form of massive strikes, as these
workers demanded better pay and better working conditions.
In an effort to solve the problem and prevent similar problems in the future, the HSPA sought non-Japanese laborers as
strikebreakers. It was at this point that recruiting Korean labor
became necessary.
Missionaries were the critical link between the HSPA
and Korean migrants. Korean immigrants in the early part
of the twentieth century were unusual in that the vast
majority who emigrated were Christians. Not only did

American missionaries have ties to sugar planters in Hawaii,
but they actively encouraged Korean Christians to migrate
to a Christian land, where it would be easier to cultivate
and maintain their newfound faith. At the same time, the
conditions in Korea had worsened. The push factorsthe
prospect of Japanese colonization, famine in the northern
regions of Korea, and political and economic instability
combined with the pull factorsfinancial opportunities,
political freedom, and steady employmentset the stage
for mass Korean emigration.
Another factor that enticed Koreans to leave their homeland was

the availability of jobs on Hawaiian sugar plantations. Christian
missionaries played a large role in encouraging Korean Christians to
immigrate to the United States, where they could openly practice
their religion. Pictured here are workers harvesting sugarcane on the
Hawaiian island of Oahu in the 1940s.
40 Korean Americans
KOREANS IN HAWAII
Unlike other immigrant groups in the United States, Korean
immigrants in Hawaii at first found themselves isolated. On
one level, this isolation was attributable to the geography
of the Hawaiian Islands and the distribution of workers on
sugar plantations. On another level, the HSPA made sure to
disperse Koreans throughout the plantations, to prevent labor organization.
No matter how scattered Koreans were around the islands,
however, they still managed to form tight-knit communities,
generally organized around a church. Indeed, the Protestant
Church has served as a powerful organizing institution for Korean immigrants throughout the twentieth century. This is not
surprising. One defining feature of Korean immigration was the
significant number of immigrants who had already converted
to Christianity. This was due to the strong presence of Protestant missionaries in the nineteenth century, who had worked
to establish Christianity in Korea by founding churches and
religiously affiliated schools and hospitals. It is important to
note, that, in the early period of Korean immigration, the vast
majority of immigrants migrated to the United States through
Protestant missionary networks.
Despite the influence of both Presbyterian and Methodist
missionaries in Korea, the majority of Korean immigrants
in the 1910s and 1920s in Hawaii and on the mainland were
Methodist. George Heber Jones, a Methodist missionary
in Korea, encouraged many of his parishioners to journey
to America.13 Korean immigrants also established other
Protestant denominational churches. For Korean immigrants,
the church met the spiritual needs of its members, but it also
served other functions as well. The church was the social
center of Korean immigrant life, because Sunday was the
one free day that Koreans had from the grinding labor of the
plantations. For new immigrants, the church provided the

resources needed to settle into life in the United States. In
times of need, the church provided financial assistance. The
church also served as the center of the U.S.-based element of
the Korean independence movement.
The mass migration of Koreans from 1903 to 1905 predated
the formal colonization of Korea in 1910. The crisis of colonization transformed Koreans abroad into passionate political
activists who worked tirelessly for Korean liberation. Although
all Koreans had the shared goal of Korean independence, Korean political leaders in Hawaii had varying ideas of how to
achieve this goal. Park Youngman and Syngman Rhee were the
most visible of these political leaders. Youngman argued for a
buildup of an overseas military force that would join Koreans in
China to drive the Japanese out of Korea. Syngman Rhee, who
would go on to be the first president of South Korea, advocated
diplomatic means for Korean independence. Unfortunately, the
personality conflicts between Syngman Rhee and Park Youngman and others, and the significantly different approaches to
the question of Korean independence, sharply divided the Korean community in Hawaii.
Like other Asian immigrants, Koreans sought other opportunities once their contracts expired. More than 1,000
Koreans immigrated to the mainland before laws were put in
place to keep Asian immigrants in Hawaii, because of their
importance to the labor force. The modernization of the sugar
industry soon ended the need for so many workers, however.
As a result, many Koreans became involved in the cultivation
of coffee and pineapples. They also opened their own businesses, which included restaurants, laundries, and general
stores.
For the second generation, the American-born children of
Korean immigrants, Hawaii offered unique opportunities. Unlike on the mainland, where anti-Asian sentiment was a part
of daily life, in Hawaii this attitude was far more muted: Asian
42 Korean Americans
immigrants significantly outnumbered whites and formed the
largest racial group in the islands. Whites, however, controlled
the majority of economic and political institutions. In the
1930s and 1940s, as American citizens, many second-generation Koreans in Hawaii not only attended college, but, because
of the racial composition in Hawaii and the size of the Korean
community, they had the opportunity to become professionals.
This was in stark contrast to the experiences of second-generation Koreans on the mainland, who found few opportunities
for professional careers.
This is not to suggest that Hawaii was free of anti-Asian
discrimination. The second-class status of Asian immigrants
would become painfully clear with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the beginning of World War II in 1941.
Significantly, the relatively large size of the Korean immigrant
community in Hawaii, especially in Honolulu, also provided
Korean parents more opportunities to maintain and pass on
Korean culture to their American-born children. Throughout
the 1920s and 1930s, Hawaii was home to a number of Korean
schools for both boys and girls, summer Korean language classes,
and other cultural offerings such as traditional dance lessons.
Also, the steady influx of Korean-born college students who
passed through Hawaii on their way to the mainland allowed
Koreans to maintain ties with their homeland in a way that was
not possible for Koreans on the West Coast.
Study Questions
1. What were the push factors for Korean
immigration?
2. What were the pull factors for Korean

immigration?
3. How did the picture bride system work?

4. How did Korean immigrants organize themselves
in Hawaii?
5. What unique opportunities did Korean

immigrants have in Hawaii?
4
Koreans on the
Mainland
n the period before 1965, the largest Korean communities in

the United States were in Hawaii and Southern California.
Korean immigrants on the mainland numbered only 1,200, but
in the larger context of Koreans in the United States, their presence on the mainland was extremely influential.
Korean life on the mainland was quite different than life
in Hawaii. Not only was the Korean community much smaller
(in Hawaii, Asian immigrants were in the majority), but Korean
immigrants also found themselves living alongside other Asian
groups in that minority.
One Korean man recalled the situation for Koreans in California in the first decade of the twentieth century: The plight
of the Koreans was sad. There isnt much of a story I can tell.
Pitiful Koreans. Their historysuch a sad history. They didnt
know the language [English] they didnt know how to go about
finding a job. Poor things. They had to go hither and yonder in
44
Koreans on the Mainland 45

search of jobs. . . . I want to cry when I think of the humiliations
they confronted.14
In the United States, racial discrimination against Asians
and discrimination against immigrants in general made life
difficult for Koreans. This was especially true in California. The
state was the center of anti-Asian political activity, which resulted in the exclusion of Chinese immigrants in 1882. For the
first time, a group was banned from immigrating to the United
States based on race. This laid the foundation on the West Coast
for profound anti-Asian feeling which negatively affected other
Asian immigrants, including Koreans.
In describing the experiences of Korean immigrants in the
face of anti-Asian discrimination in California, Easurk Emsen
Charr, who published an autobiography of his experiences as
an immigrant in 1961, recalled,
Personal insults were offered the Oriental, calling him
Jap, or Scaby, meaning a scab, a dirty fellow who does
the same work for lower wages than do others; missiles
were thrown at him in the streets; mob violence threatened, school segregation proposed; services denied him at
barber shops and restaurants; segregation in small town
theatres; refusal of admission into places of amusements;
and various other indignities and discriminatory treatment occurred.15
Moreover, this racial hostility at times was violent. Charr

continued, In a Southern California town a year or so later, a
house where the first Korean laborers moved into was threatened with mob violence by the labor element of the town, but
by the timely assistance rendered by the church people of the
town the threatened violence was stopped.16
In California, in the early years, Korean immigrants were
primarily concentrated in the agricultural industry. Koreans
were especially successful in farming, because many had previous farming experience in Korea and in Hawaii. Examples of
46 Korean Americans
Many Korean immigrants who settled in California during the early

1900s worked in the agricultural industry, where they helped harvest
crops such as grapes. Pictured here are workers in a vineyard in
Southern California.
this success include the Kim brothers, who developed the fuzzless peach, and Kim Chong-nim, who in the 1920s was so successful in rice farming, he became known as the rice king.
As time passed, Koreans moved into other occupations.
As they do today, for a number of reasons, Korean immigrants
during this time found self-employment desirable. The racism
and discrimination toward Asian immigrants prevented even
qualified Korean immigrants from holding professional occupations. In fact, even Korean immigrants with college degrees
in the 1920s and 1930s found that the only work they could
find was domestic work. As a result, Korean immigrants turned
to self-employment or businesses that served the ethnic community. Although this practice is certainly part of Korean-

American communities today, it is important to remember that
Korean immigrant entrepreneurship has a long history in the
United States.
As they did in Hawaii, Koreans in California maintained
tight ethnic bonds through churches, language schools for the
second generation, womens clubs, and most important, political organizations that made the cause of Korean independence
la choy
hen it comes to Chinese food in the United States, one of

the best-known brands is La Choy. For more than 80 years,
La Choy has dominated the market for quick and easy Chinese
food that can be prepared at home. Surprisingly, La Choy was
founded in the 1920s by Ilhan New, a Korean immigrant.
Born in 1885 in what is present-day North Korea, New immigrated to the United States in the first decade of the twentieth
century; however, New did not represent the typical Korean immigrant. The majority of Korean migrants at the turn of the century
were recruited to work in the sugar plantations of the Hawaiian
Islands, but New came as a student. He attended the University
of Michigan, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and, by
1919, completed a certificate in business administration.
Using the skills he acquired at the University of Michigan,
New and his friend Wallace Smith started La Choy Food Products
in 1920 and began to sell canned bean sprouts and soy sauce.
La Choy was successful enough that, by the 1930s, New was one
of the wealthiest Korean immigrants in the United States. Before
World War II, New sold his shares to his partner. Today, La Choy
is a division of ConAgra Foods.
With the financial success of La Choy, New was one of the few
immigrants who was able to return to Korea and establish a financial base in his homeland. After Korean liberation, New returned
to Korea and founded Yuhan Corporation, which is currently one
of the countrys largest pharmaceutical companies.
48 Korean Americans
their main focus. Although this was true for first-generation
immigrants, for the American-born generation, the struggle to
fit into American society was a more immediate concern. One
second-generation woman recalled, The independence movement seemed to unite the first generation immigrants.17
Their parents were concerned with the Korean independence movement and the daily struggle of earning a living, but
second-generation Koreans faced their own difficulties. They
had to negotiate two worldsthe world of their parents and
of a larger America. As a result, the second generation had to
figure out how to live as Korean Americans.
The hardest thing the second generation dealt with was the
discrimination they faced on a daily basis, despite the fact that
they were American citizens. One Korean American recalled,
When I first went to U.C. [University of California, Berkeley]
in 1939, I noticed the discrimination right away. I discovered
that the white boys wouldnt speak to me.18
As a result, second-generation Koreans of the 1930s and
1940s not only formed close friendships with each other, but
they also created their own social world. The first generation
actively supported this activity and created opportunities for
the second generation to maintain their Korean heritage. For
example, first-generation Korean immigrants wanted their children to learn Korean. As a result, many American-born Koreans
attended Korean language school. In fact, being able to speak
Korean was an important part of the Korean-American identity. One second-generation woman recalled, By the time I was
in second grade, I could read and write Korean even though I
couldnt understand everything I read. I dont actually remember learning to read and write, but I think my parents must have
initially taught me. . . . I also remember going to Korean school
with other Korean children.19
Another important issue for the first generation when it
came to their children was that of marriage. Particularly, firstgeneration immigrants wanted their children to marry other

Koreans. This was often difficult, especially on the mainland,
because the Korean population was so small. One KoreanAmerican woman recalled,
First of all, you have to realize that my father was adamant that I marry a Korean. That was impressed upon me
when I was in high school. My father heard that I danced
with a Japanese boy once. He didnt tell me, but he told
my mother. If she ever marries a Japanese boyIm going
to kill her and then myself. . . . It didnt take long for me
to see that it wasnt just Japanese boys that were off-limits
for marriage. If I married anyone who was not Korean,
he would have reacted just as negatively. I felt that I was
limited in terms of choices. And there really wasnt much
interracial mixing until after World War II.20
At the same time, like other American teenagers during

this time, second-generation Koreans attended school dances,
went to the movies, went out for ice cream, and played sports.
In general, the second generation did manage to be both Korean and American in a time when it was very difficult to be
nonwhite.
For Koreans living in the United States before 1965, World
War II was a turning point. It became clear that the American
involvement in the war was the best way for Japan to be defeated, and, as a result, for Korea to be liberated. Also, for Koreans,
like for other immigrants in the United States, World War II
became a moment where they could become more American.
Koreans sold war bonds, raised victory gardens, volunteered for
the Red Cross, and most important, served in the U.S. military.
Both second-generation Korean men and women were eager
to demonstrate their loyalty to America. One Korean-American
man recalled,
It was 1944, and I could no longer remain a civilian . . .
earning a fat wage. I enlisted. But getting into the army
50 Korean Americans
was not so easy for me. First, they were doubtful about my
agethirty-eight. Then they saw the scar on my back, a
reminder of spinal surgery in 1940 for a slipped lumbar
disc. When I insisted that I was physically fit, they asked if
I would sign a disability waiver. Of course I did; I would
sign anything. My enlistment was approved; I was going to
war to kill or be killed.21
Japanese Americans were interned (forced to live in

camps) for the duration of the war, and in many ways this
Notable Individual
Susan Ahn cuddy
n 2003, Susan Ahn Cuddy was named the 48th Congressional Districts (located in Southern Californias Orange County)
Woman of the Year by the California State Assembly. This award
recognized her remarkable achievements, both as a Korean-American woman and as a Californian.
The daughter of Ahn Chang-ho, one of the most famous
Korean political leaders of the twentieth century, Susan Ahn
Cuddy was born in 1915, in Los Angeles, and was one of
the first Koreans born in the United States. Influenced by
her fathers patriotism for Korea and the United States, Ahn
Cuddy decided early on that she could be both Korean and
American.
The opportunity to fulfill this desire came to pass during
World War II. After she finished college, she attempted to enlist
in the navy. For Ahn Cuddy, enlistment represented a way to both
serve America and, with the defeat of Japan, contribute to Korean
independence. Although the navy initially refused to enlist her,
Ahn Cuddy was persistent and became the first Asian-American
woman in the navy and the first female gunnery officer to graduate

benefited other Asian immigrant groups. Koreans as well as
Chinese found their situations greatly improved. Not only
were they the good Asians, in contrast to the enemy Japanese, but similar to the majority of Americans, the wartime
economy provided new opportunities. One Korean-American
woman in San Francisco recalled, The war was terrible, but it
also brought opportunity. With the war, not only did people
have more money, but there was a lot more assimilation of
people as well as neighborhoods.22
from the Pensacola Gunnery School. After the war, she worked for
the National Security Agency and today lives in the Northridge
community of Los Angeles.
Susan Ahn Cuddy, pictured here next to an exhibit at the Korean

American Museum in Los Angeles on December 5, 2003, is the
daughter of renowned Korean political leader Ahn Chang-ho. During
World War II, Cuddy enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where she became the
first Asian-American woman officer and the first woman gunnery officer.
52 Korean Americans
The war was also a time of new social opportunities. One
Korean-American immigrant recalled:
Our social lives really opened up. Its a terrible thing to say,
but in spite of it all, we had fun during the war. We were
just looking toward the end of the depression when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and we entered World War II.
The war brought prosperity. Everybody had money then.
I remember going out practically every night, nightclubbing with whomever happened to be in town. There were
always people coming in and out. Korean kids from Los
Angeles who had joined the army came to San Francisco
just for fun. And wed meet them and take them out.23
The end of the war was bittersweet. Koreans around the

world celebrated the liberation of their homeland, but this happiness quickly disappeared as they realized that Korea was not
really free and instead would fall under the joint control of the
United States and the Soviet Union. At the same time, many
Koreans in the United Stateson the mainland and in Hawaii
(especially first-generation immigrants)realized that after
years of struggling for Korean independence, the Korea they
knew no longer existed and that their lives and futures were in
America. As a result, this early wave of Korean immigrants on
the mainland would become the foundation for the mass influx
of Korean immigrants after 1965.
Study Questions
1. Why was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
significant?
2. Why did Koreans on the mainland before World

War II engage in entrepreneurship?
3.How were the experiences of the second-generation

Korean immigrants different from the first
generation?
4.How did World War II change the lives of Koreans

who lived in immigrant communities?
5
Contemporary
Korean Communities
in North America
KOREANS IN THE UNITED STATES
urrently, more than one million people of Korean descent

live in the United States, with the largest concentration
in Southern California and the New York metropolitan area.
Korean immigrants have also built significant communities in
Chicago and Washington, D.C., and in smaller cites, such as
Memphis, Kansas City, and Indianapolis.
The experience of Korean immigrants in the United States
can be understood in the two distinctive wavespre- and post
1965. The Immigration and Naturalization Services Act of
1965, which liberalized American immigration policy to admit
Asian immigrants, serves as the chronological dividing line
between these two waves of immigration. Between the end of
World War II and the changes in American immigration policy
in the 1960s, Koreans still continued to enter the United States.
54
Contemporary Korean Communities in North America 55

In the 1950s, though, the Korean immigrant population was
primarily composed of war brides, the Korean brides of U.S.
soldiers, and Korean orphans, who were generally adopted by
white American families.
The change in U.S. immigration policy in 1965 allowed for
family reunification and the recruitment of professionals, particularly in the medical field, and it revitalized Korean immigration. The new law allowed families to be reunited, because
Koreans who had citizenship (this included many of the firstwave immigrants and war brides) were permitted to invite and
sponsor immediate relatives (parents, spouses, children) still
living in Korea to immigrate to the United States. This situation was the key to mass Korean immigration after 1965. The
recruitment of professionals would also have an impact on Korean immigration, especially the recruitment of nurses.
Similar to the Korean immigrants at the turn of the century,
post-1965 Korean immigrants faced enormous hardships in the
United States as they built a new life for themselves and their
families. Although some of these struggles, such as adapting to
a new culture and learning a new language, are part of a broader
shared immigrant experience, Koreans, along with other nonwhite immigrants, had to deal with racial discrimination.
The new wave of Korean immigrants turned to self-employment in significant numbers. Koreans as an ethnic group, like previous generations of European immigrants, have come to be associated with specific industries. For example, in New York City,
green groceries, nail salons, and corner delis are dominated by
Korean immigrants. In California, many Korean immigrants own
liquor stores. Also, many run businesses such as restaurants, beauty
salons, and travel agencies that serve the ethnic community.
Many Korean immigrants will tell you that the sacrifices
they make working in such labor-intensive industries are for
their children. Mr. Park, a first-generation Korean immigrant
who owns a shoe repair shop declared, Its going ok. But, gosh,
19,766
12,512
21,021
20,742
15,830
12,840
14,268
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
4,336
4,213
3,564
2,929
2,164
1,607
2,474
4,765
3,653
5,580
8,353
9,241
4,297
8,662
Employmentbased
preferences
5,130
4,914
6,610
9,420
9,573
6,579
8,602
Immediate
relatives of
U.S. citizens
(Total)
2,417
2,033
3,475
5,432
5,315
3,323
4,708
Spouses of
U.S. citizens
2,040
2,267
2,149
2,487
2,456
2,252
2,422
Children
673
614
986
1,501
1,802
1,004
1,472
Parents
Source: Department of Homeland Security Web site. Available online at http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/shared/

statistics/yearbook/2004/table8.xls
Total
Year
Familysponsored
preferences
Korean Immigrants Admitted Under

Different Preference Categories, 1998 to 2004
56 Korean Americans
I didnt know that we would have to work this hard in America.
All I do is work, work, work, but its all right because we can
afford three meals a day [in Korean, this expression means he

feels financially comfortable], and thank God the kids are doing
well in school.24
At the same time, after 1965, the gains of the civil rights
movement in the United States opened up new opportunities
for Asian Americans. As a result, Korean immigrants, and especially their children, have been able to achieve new social mobility in professions such as medicine and law. This is not to suggest that all Korean immigrants have achieved success, however.
As for earlier Korean immigrants, many of the same challenges
of adapting to a new country, such as language barriers, racial
discrimination, domestic violence, and poverty, are still issues
of concern.
For post-1965 Korean immigrants, 1992 represented a
turning point in these challenges. In April 1992, four white Los
Like many immigrant groups in the United States, Korean Americans

have gravitated toward certain industries and jobs. According to one
source, as many as 75 percent of Manhattans green groceries are
owned by Korean Americans.
58 Korean Americans
Angeles police officers were declared innocent for the violent
beating of Rodney King, a black man. African Americans were
rightfully outraged, and three days of civil unrest began. Although hostilities between blacks and whites in Los Angeles had
a long history, in 1992, Koreans became caught in the crossfire,
as many of their stores were looted and burned to the ground.
Korean businesses alone suffered more than $4 million in damages. This was a major financial blow to the Korean community.
In addition, the fact that the city of Los Angeles did little to
respond in the initial period of crisis suggested to Koreans that,
despite their economic success, as a community they were politically and racially isolated.
Due to increased racial tensions caused by the 1992 Los Angeles

riots, Korean Americans recognize the importance of developing better
relationships with other ethnic groups, especially African Americans.
Jae Yul Kim, who had to rebuild after the riots, is pictured here
greeting longtime customer McKinley Gipson at his market in South
Central Los Angeles.

In the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, Korean immigrants addressed this problem by becoming involved in local
politics. They also began to build bridges between Korean communities and other racial groups and worked to promote racial
harmony.
Korean immigrant communities are still one of the fastestgrowing immigrant groups in the United States. This is due to
continued immigration and natural population growth.
KOREANS IN CANADA
Much the same as Korean immigrants in the United States, early
Korean immigrants to Canada in the first part of the twentieth
century were part of a larger Protestant Christian missionary
network. As a result, most were Korean students who came to
train as ministers. These Korean students were joined by other
students after World War II, and together they established the
foundation for the Korean-Canadian community.
Until the 1960s, the number of Koreans remained small and
concentrated in Toronto. Changes in Canadian immigration
law, however, encouraged mass Korean immigration to Canada.
The most recent figures indicate that almost 150,000 Koreans
live in Canada, primarily in the Vancouver and Toronto metropolitan areas. Similar to the majority of their counterparts
in the United States, Koreans in Canada are recent immigrants
and are part of a larger wave of global immigration. Currently,
Korea is one of the main sources of Canadian immigrants.25
In many ways, the profile of Korean immigrants in Canada is very similar to that of Korean immigrants in the United
States. In general, Koreans in Canada have a higher level of education compared to other immigrant groups. They come from
urban areas in Korea and many own small businesses. In fact,
because they migrated in family units, more than 40 percent of
Korean immigrants in Canada work in family businesses, such
as convenience stores, video rental shops, fast-food restaurants,
and dry cleaners.26 Given Canadas smaller economy, however,
60 Korean Americans
Korean immigrants as an ethnic group have achieved less economic success than their counterparts in the United States.
For Korean immigrants in Canada, social networks have
been important to starting a new life, especially in establishing
an economic base. For example, Korean immigrants are often
dependent on assistance from earlier waves of immigrants. One
Korean immigrant woman said,
I heard a joke among Koreans here saying, what a new immigrant does upon arriving in Canada depends on the occupation of the person who picks up the immigrant at the
airport. That was true! My friend and my husbands friend
who came to the airport for us were running convenience
stores. Without much consideration, we thought that we
should also run a convenience store like them.
As in the United States, Korean women in Canada were

more likely to work outside of the home, especially in familyowned businesses. This brought husbands and wives into close
working relationships, which was quite different from Korean
practice. One woman pointed out, In Korea, we [my husband
and I] were living in completely different worlds.27
In contrast, after immigration, Korean men and women
found their lives had changed dramatically in terms of working
experiences. Some experiences were negative. One woman said,
Yes, of course! As for working together, I see a lot of new things
about him, which I didnt know before. . . . Well, I dont think
it is a really good thing that a wife and husband work together
in the same workplace. I see a lot more bad things than good
things about my husband. Naturally, we are more involved in
more arguments.28 For other Korean immigrants, the situation
was more positive. One woman stated,
No, we have never worked together before like this. But,
I dont know . . . I heard that a lot of women have some
problems with their spouses in the business. We havent

been like that. Rather, we have quite enjoyed it so far. Maybe that is because he was always busy when we were in
Korea. We didnt have much time to spend together. Now,
we joke around together and work hard together.29
Notable Individual
reverend sang-chul lee
everend Sang-Chul Lee is one of the most prominent Korean

Canadians today.* Born in Siberia in 1924, Lee moved with
his family first to Manchuria and then to South Korea, where he
converted to Christianity. In 1961, he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to pursue his studies. Lonely for his wife and three
children, after three years, Reverend Lee returned to Korea and
was reunited with his family. His experiences in Canada left him
changed, however, and he found it difficult to adjust to life in
Korea again.
Fortunately, Reverend Lee was offered a position to serve as a
pastor of a Canadian church, which provided the Lee family with
the opportunity to immigrate to Vancouver. Lee went on to lead a
Korean church in Toronto for more than 20 years. Significantly,
Reverend Lee is one of the earliest Korean immigrants, and Canada took his role as a community leader seriously. Not only did he
help other Korean immigrants settle in Canada, but he strove to
make Canada a truly multicultural society. In 1988, Reverend Lee
was appointed a leader of the United Church of Canada, and from
1992 to 1998 he served as the chancellor of Victoria University
in Toronto. In 1999, the Korean government presented Reverend
Lee with the Korean Overseas Compatriots Prize, in recognition of
his contributions to Korean-Canadian society.
* The Wanderer: The Story of Reverend Sang-Chul Lee. A Scattering
of Seeds: The Creation of Canada. Available online at http://www.whitepinepictures.com/seeds/ii/24/index.html.
62 Korean Americans
The unpaid labor of women has been important to the success of Korean immigrant businesses. At the same time, this often creates an enormous workload for women who now have
both domestic and work responsibilities. One Korean immigrant working woman declared, I do everything. I do the cooking, cleaning, washing dishes and laundry. Sometimes I ask the
boys to vacuum. But basically, it is all my work. You see, I live
with three men in this house!30
Much like their counterparts in the United States, Korean
immigrants in Canada have built thriving ethnic communities,
especially in Vancouver and Toronto. Korean communities in
these cities include several churches, college alumni associations, business organizations, and businesses that serve Koreans,
such as restaurants. For first-generation immigrants, this community structure provides a critical resource for many immigrants who do not speak English or have recently immigrated.
It is clear that the Korean population in Canada will continue to
grow as a result of both continued immigration and the natural
growth of the existing population.
Study Questions
1. What is the significance of the 1965 Immigration
and Naturalization Services Act?
2. How is post-1965 Korean immigration to the

United States similar to immigration prior to
1965? How is it different?
3. In what kinds of entrepreneurship do Korean

immigrants usually become involved?
4. Compare and contrast Korean immigration to

Canada and the United States.
6
Korean Adoptees
n general, when we talk about immigration, we think about

individuals making a decision to leave their home country
and settle in a new country, such as the United States. This
explains how the majority of Korean immigrants came to the
United States, but it does not reveal the full story of Korean
immigration. An important but understudied aspect of Korean
immigration is the adoption of about 200,000 Korean children
by American families since the 1950s.
Although domestic adoption has long been a part of the
fabric of America, international adoption is a relatively new
endeavor. It resulted from the disruptions caused by World
War II. In particular, the presence of U.S. soldiers abroad led
to personal involvements that produced significant numbers
of mixed-raced children. The hostility directed toward and
the poor treatment of these children in their home countries
shocked Americans.
63
64 Korean Americans
Before the 1950s, international adoptions, especially of
nonwhite children, rarely happened in the United States. This
changed in the aftermath of the Korean War (19501953),
however. In particular, the sad images of Korean war orphans
moved the hearts of Americans to adopt these children. At the
same time, there was pressure in Korea to encourage the adoption of children of U.S. soldiers and Korean women who were
holt international
n the 1950s, Bertha and Harry Holt, who lived in Oregon, saw
a film about the desperate situation of Korean orphans. Moved
by the plight of these orphans, the Holts decided to adopt eight
mixed-race Korean children at a time when adopting non-American children was outlawed. In fact, a special presidential order
establishing children placement services had to be passed by
Congress to permit Americans to adopt Korean children.
As the story of the Holts and their adopted children spread,
other American families also expressed their interest in adopting
Korean children. Because the Holts already had experience with
adoption in Korea, they helped these families, and Holt International was born. Initially, the business was operated out of the
kitchen of the Holt home, but Holt quickly became the greatest
force behind international adoptions in the United States. Harry
Holt died in 1964, but his wife, Bertha, continued the work of
Holt International. Although the Holts initially sought to place
mixed-race children, today the children from Korea that are
placed through Holt International are primarily Korean.
Holt International has placed more than 40,000 Korean children in adoptive homes in the United States. Bertha Holt was so
beloved that, until her death in 2000 at the age of 96, she was
called Grandma Holt by the many children and families she
brought together. Currently, Holt International places 1,000 Korean children a year in the United States.
Korean Adoptees 65
left behind after the war, because Korean society frowned on
mixed-race children.
Part of the appeal of Korean adoptions, in comparison
with other international adoptions, was that Korean children
could be adopted at a very early agesix to eight weeksunlike children in other countries, who were often older. In addition, the rise of single motherhood in Korea and the demand
During the 1950s, many Americans were touched by the difficult

conditions orphans faced in Korea. The children pictured here with
their new American parents were adopted through the efforts of
Harry and Bertha Holt, who founded Holt International Childrens
Services in 1955 after they saw a documentary film detailing the
plight of children in Korean orphanages.
66 Korean Americans
for infants in the United States continued the demand for Korean children.
The adoption of international children into warm, loving,
American homes seems like a good situation for the children
and the parents who desperately want them. The issues of racial difference made Korean adoption very difficult at times,
however. Most Korean children were adopted into suburban,
middle-class, white families in areas of the country without significant Asian communities.
In the earliest period of Korean adoptee migration, the accepted belief was that Korean children should be assimilated
into American culture as much as possible. As a result, many
of these adoptees knew almost nothing about Korea or Korean
culture. As these children became adults, they had many questions about where they were from. Often, many became angry
when they were not told about their heritage.
Today, the situation is quite different. American society, in
general, has become more accepting of racial differences. In
addition, in a multicultural worldone made smaller by the
Internet, inexpensive international travel, and globalization in
generalparents of Korean adoptees are finding it harder to
ignore the racial and cultural differences of their children.
Despite love and care by their families, however, many
Korean adoptees experienced racial hostility, especially those
Korean children who were adopted into areas of the country
that did not have significant Asian populations. One adopted
Korean, Janice Bishop, recalled,
My mom made a point with my family that she wasnt going to tolerate any racist comments. Her attitude was that
she had accepted this interracial adoption, and if anyone
else wasnt going to, then she wasnt going to have anything to do with them. When I arrivedthat was in 1975
or 1976they did have a lot of problems. They went on a
couple of trips back East to visit some of my dads relatives,
Korean Adoptees 67
and my mom has memories of driving through Texas and
not being served because I was with them.31
As for the maintenance of Korean identity, although many

white American parents made an effort to teach their adopted
children about Korean culture, many adopted Koreans knew
nothing about their heritage. Janice Bishop, who had participated in a special trip to Korea for adoptees, said,
My parents have tried to instill a sense of who I was, but it
was kind of hard because they dont have any knowledge
of Korean culture. . . . But I came [to the United States]
at such a young age that I basically lost all my Koreaness.
[My mom] tried to buy me books. She even bought me
Korean Barbie doll clothes, and shed sew pillows with the
Korean flag on it. She tried, but I dont think all parents
do. A lot of kids had no exposure to Korea at all. Some of
them came from Midwest towns where guys didnt want
to date them. They never met other Asians. Those were
the ones who rejected the Korean culture that we were being exposed to. They didnt like the food and were closedminded to a lot of things.32
As a group, Korean adoptees are well organized. Today, there

are many organizations that provide emotional and practical
support for adoptees and their families. The Internet has been
an essential resource; adoptees have many online resources and
have been able to connect with other Korean adoptees throughout the world. As a result of these efforts, older adoptees today
have consciously reached out to younger adoptees to offer advice and to serve as a resource.
For many years, Korea was one of the largest sources of foreign adoptions, even as Koreas economy and standard of living
improved dramatically. The continued taboos against adoption
by Koreans, combined with the economic crisis of the 1990s in
Asia, however, continued to make overseas adoption necessary.
68 Korean Americans
Today, American families adopting Korean children recognize the importance of maintaining ties to Korea and Korean culture and to other Korean adoptees. As a result, parents
have taken an active role in having their children attend Korean
culture camps, travel to Korea, and to attend Korean language
school and in general to adopt Korean culture as a family.
At the same time, as Korean adoptees and their families have
recognized the importance of maintaining ties to Korea, in the
1990s, the Korean government developed an interest in Korean
adoptees. The stories of these adoptees, largely unknown in Korea until recently, captured the hearts of Koreans. One outcome
of this interest was homecoming visits sponsored by the Korean government and other organizations.
These visits were arranged to provide adoptees with some
sense of their heritage. They also served as an opportunity
American families who adopt Korean children recognize the

importance of exposing their children to Korean culture. Pictured
here is a group of Korean-American adoptees playing mook chee bah,
a Korean variation of rock, paper, scissors, at the Holt Heritage Camp
in New Jersey.
Korean Adoptees 69
for Korea to include adoptees as part of a larger group of
Koreans who lived overseas. For many adoptees, these visits
to Korea were incredibly important and answered some of
the questions they had about themselves, but not at the
expense of their experiences as adoptees. Janice Bishop
pointed out,
The majority of us couldnt find any information about
our backgrounds, because most of us had been abandoned. . . . I always wonder what my children are going to
look like, and what my biological parents look like, but I
dont think that finding my biological parents would fill a
void in me, because I have received all the parental nurturing that I need. . . . But now Ive reached an age when
I could have a child myself, and I understand more what
it means for a woman to give up her child. It would be a
very hard decision for me. So now, when I think about
the things my mom told me about being a healthy baby, I
feel a little better about myself, that maybe I wasnt strictly
unwanted and abandoned. Its something nice to keep in
the back of your head.33
In Korea, some of the most dramatic, and most popular,

stories of Korean adoptees have been about adopteebirth parent reunions. Suzanne Switzer, a 15-year-old adoptee, described
her feelings,
I feel like now I know where I came from and know more
about me. To me, that is really important. Now I can tell
somebody that asks me where Im from, where I am really from. I feel so much more comfortable about my past
now because I know what really happened and I feel more
secure with myself. I wait for the next time I will see them
because they have grown to be a very important part of
my life and I will never think any less of them. I used to
think badly of my birthmother and wonder why she gave
70 Korean Americans
me up. Now I know the truth and I just want to thank her
for what she did.34
As Korean adoptees attempt to come to terms with their experiences, it is clear that a distinct Korean adoptee identity has
emerged. For many adoptees, this is an identity, like the identity
of Korean-American immigrants, but it is one that is distinct
from both American and Korean culture. Despite the fact that
Korean adoptees are scattered throughout the world, they have
been able to share their common identities and experiences
thanks largely to the Internet. Mirim Kim, an adoptee, said,
In so many ways, I have been blessed. But is that lucky?
Is it lucky to be a permanent nomad, always between two
cultures? Some people say that all U.S. immigrants face
the same dilemma, but I disagree. People who immigrate
to the U.S. by choice have family, history and roots somewhere. Adoptees do not. Caucasian immigrants in particular can assimilate racially into mainstream American
society. Korean adoptees cannot. Korea is no longer my
country, but to some extent neither is the U.S.35
For older adoptees, this identity includes a complete denial

of their Korean heritage, a sense of isolation due to growing
up in all-white communities, and racial discrimination. At the
same time, when these adoptees have the chance to return to
Korea, they find that there is pressure to be Korean. Although
younger adoptees have had an easier time of being adopted in
comparison with older adoptees, adoptees as a whole share a
set of experiences that define them. These experiences include
being adopted at a very early age, being adopted primarily into
white families, limited knowledge about Korea and Korean
culture, dealing with racial discrimination, lack of knowledge
about their birth families and medical histories, and often the
feelings of being rejected by Korean society.
Korean Adoptees 71
The issue of Korean adoption and international adoption
in general still generates many questions about how Korean
adoptees should be raised and how their ties to Korea should be
maintained. One adoptees mother put it this way,
Our main goal was to have a family. I see us less as an
adoptive family but a multicultural family. I began to think
about what it would be like if we [were] an immigrant Korean family. I make sure that my children are connected to
the Korean American community. Ive made an effort to
make Korean friends and get involved in Korean American organizations. From the moment they are placed in
your arms, there is an incredible awareness that you are
now connected through this tiny baby to an entire family
in Koreabirth father, birth mother, siblings, aunts and
unclesan enormous connection. It instantly makes you
Korean in your heart.36
Study Questions
1.How are the experiences of Korean adoptees different from the larger story of Korean immigration?
2. What launched the adoption of Korean children?

3.How and why did the Holt family become involved
in Korean adoption?
4. What struggles have Korean adoptees faced?
7
Los Angeles, 1992
ays after the Los Angeles riots had officially ended on May 4,
1992, the smell of smoke lingered in the air, and the nation
was in a state of shock. More than 50 people had been killed, nearly
2,000 had been injured, more than $1 billion in damage was done,
more than 10,000 people had been arrested, and parts of the city
had been completely burned to the ground. What had happened
in Los Angeles? How could Koreans recover from sa-i-gu, which in
Korean literally means April 29, the first day of the riots?
Riots and urban uprisings have occurred in the United
States throughout its history. Most uprisings in the twentieth
century, especially in the 1960s, were rooted in black/white conflict. What made the riots of 1992 unique, however, was that
they were the first multiracial riots involving whites, African
Americans, Asians, and Latinos.
By the 1990s, the impact of post-1965 Korean immigration
could be seen in cities across the United States. In places like
72
Los Angeles, 1992 73

Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, the size of Korean populations were significant enough to support visible Koreatowns.
Many Korean immigrants had become economically successful
by opening their own businesses in poor Latino and AfricanAmerican neighborhoods, which often led to conflict. Cultural
misunderstandings also contributed to this situation.
UNDERSTANDING 1992
The Los Angeles riots began on April 29, 1992, in response
to the verdict in the Rodney King trial, where four white police officers were found innocent of the brutal videotaped
beating of King, who was African American. People were
shocked at the verdict, especially in light of the videotaped
evidence. It was especially shocking for African Americans
in Los Angeles.
Anger at the verdict simmered, and soon rioting began in
South Central Los Angeles and spread across the city. Authorities did little to stop the rioting and looting, because it was
occurring in predominately nonwhite neighborhoods. Almost
three days of violence and destruction would occur before federal troops were called in to restore order. This pushed many
Korean immigrants to arm themselves to protect their stores.
One Korean immigrant man recalled,
My wife and I together work twenty-three hours a day,
seven days a week. There are no days off. I figure that our
hourly wage is less than minimum wage. Even if I died
right at this moment, I have nothing to leave behind. . . .
After the Rodney King verdict, the other stores around
here were broken into. The windows were smashed. One
market down the street was completely looted of everything of value. People broke down my door and started
looting until I showed them I had a gun. . . . So I shot one
round in the air. They threw down what they had and left.
The police didnt even get here until much later.37
74 Korean Americans
Images of Korean storeowners shooting guns to ward off
looters were shown repeatedly by the media. This made the
situation even worse. It made Koreans appear as if they cared
more about their property than human life. The bulk of the
media coverage failed to address the fact that the police and
fire department did little to protect Koreatown. Also, the media failed to recognize that, for many Korean immigrants, these
businesses represented a lifetime of work. In the aftermath of
the riots, Korean activists were very critical of the biased reporting of the media.
It is important to remember, however, that the Rodney King
verdict was part of larger issues in Los Angeles. These included
Images such as this one, in which two Korean-American men protect

their store from looters, were repeatedly shown during the medias
coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Unfortunately, Koreatown was
not protected by the Los Angeles Police Department, so many Korean
Americans were forced to ward off looters.

the high unemployment rate of African Americans and Latinos
and a long history of brutality on the part of the Los Angeles
Police Department toward African Americans and nonwhites
in general. The King verdict also came on the heels of the Latasha Harlins case, where a Korean shopkeeper shot a 15-year-
Latasha Harlins and the 1992 Los Angeles riots
ne of the events that contributed to the 1992 Los Angeles

riots was the Latasha Harlins case. Harlins, a 15-year-old
black girl, was shot to death by Soon Ja Du, a convenience store
owner, in an African-American neighborhood in South Central Los
Angeles in March 1991. A videotape from a security camera revealed that Du and Harlins quarreled over a container of orange
juice that Harlins had put in her backpack without paying for
it. It quickly turned into a physical exchange of blows. As Harlins turned away, Du shot her in the back. The African-American
community was in disbelief when Du was sentenced to community service, a $500 fine, and probation for the death of Harlins.
Although it is difficult to fully understand the leniency of the
sentence, it is clear that African Americans were outraged and
considered the Harlins case to be part of a larger pattern of discrimination and injustice against African Americans.
Activists responded by organizing a series of boycotts against
Korean-owned stores. A number of people pointed to the Harlins
incident as a critical event in the days preceding the 1992 uprisings. Walter Thompson, an African-American man, put it this way,
Were mad for a whole lot of reasons. First that 15-year-old girl
was killed and they got away with it. Then they beat Rodney King
like a dog and the jury sets them free. The black people dont get
no justice, nowhere, no time.*
* Don Terry, Decades of Rage Created Crucible of Violence, New York
Times, May 3, 1992.
76 Korean Americans
old African-American girl to death during an altercation over a
carton of juice.
There were other racial tensions, as well. Like other cities,
Los Angeles had experienced an influx of new immigrants,
primarily from Asia and Latin America. As a result, Latino immigrants began to move into historically African-American
neighborhoods, and Korean immigrants dominated the retail
trade in these neighborhoods.
KOREAN IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURS

Korean business owners entered African-American neighborhoods because of a particular set of events. In Los Angeles, the
race riots of the 1960s had left African-American communities without many necessary services. This allowed Korean immigrants to open businesses such as liquor stores, convenience
stores, small grocery stores, wig stores, and nail salons there in
the 1970s and 1980s. Koreans were also able to open and maintain these businesses, because they brought savings from Korea and depended on unpaid family labor. At the same time,
despite the desires of African Americans, racial discrimination
prevented many of them from operating businesses in their
own neighborhoods. For example, because of discriminatory
lending practices, many blacks could not secure loans to start
businesses or to purchase real estate.
The influx of Korean-owned businesses and Latino immigrants into African-American neighborhoods brought the new
immigrants and African Americans into close contact. At times,
this proximity was marked by cultural misunderstandings and
racial discrimination by all parties involved. It is also important
to recognize that, for Korean immigrants, there was a cost attached to doing business in poor neighborhoods. One Korean
immigrant described it as a war zone:
I know that many Korean store owners have been killed.
I feel like this is a war zone and that my life has become

like a battle. If I close my eyes or relax my vigilance for
a second, I might lose my life. . . . I am scared every day.
I have been beaten, cursed, spat upon. Sometimes young
kids demand cigarettes, and if I dont sell to them, they
get angry. Once someone threw a bottle at me. If I hadnt
blocked it with my arm, I would have been hit in the face.
The bottle broke on contact, and I had to go get stitches
in my arm.38
It would be a mistake to characterize all African-American/Korean encounters as negative, however. One researchers study of the relationship between blacks and Koreans
points out that it is possible to have a relationship of mutual
respect:
Mr. B. is a thirty-year-old Korean male who has operated
a liquor store for six years in Southwest Los Angeles. . . .
What is interesting about this Korean owner is that for
the six years that he has been in business at the present
location, he has employed all African Americans and these
employees actually run the business in Mr. Bs frequent
absences. During the riots, Mr. Bs business was guarded
by the employees and neighborhood people. Mr. B services over 90 percent African Americans. When asked why
he has always employed African Americans, Mr. B. stated,
Nearly 100 percent of our customers are African Americans. It would be a slap in the face to the people who live
in this community if I did not hire African Americans.
And its good for business.39
AFTERMATH
As order was restored, the toll of the rioting was shocking. More
than 50 people were killed, 2,000 injured, and 10,000 arrested.
Property damage totaled more than $1 billion. At least 2,000
Korean immigrant businesses were burned to the ground, and
78 Korean Americans
the Korean community alone sustained more than $4 billion in
damages.
Korean immigrant communities across the United States
were shocked and angry after the Los Angeles riots, and many
wondered if immigrating had been a good decision. In fact,
many Korean immigrants left Los Angeles and moved to other
parts of the United States. Others tried to figure out how and
why Koreans were the target of such violence. One Korean immigrant woman, who watched her store burn down, said,
Until last year I believed America is the best. I still believe
it. I dont deny that now because Im a victim, but as the
year ends in 92 we were still in turmoil and having all the
financial problems and mental problems. Then a couple
of months ago I realized that Korean immigrants were left
out from this society and we were nothing. What is our
right? Is it because we are Korean? Is it because we have
no politicians? Is it because we dont speak good English?
Why? Why do we have to be left out?40
Many Koreans who lost their businesses during the riots

believed that the looting and burning of Korean businesses
was not about African-American hostility toward Koreans
but about misplaced anger toward whites and the long history of discrimination against African Americans. One Korean remarked:
I respect African Americans, their effort in history up to
now, how they fought to settle down in this country. They
are a model for many minorities living in this country.
There were so many great black leaders, like Martin Luther King and others. I am trying to study them. King was
a role model for all of us. . . . To me, it wasnt right for
the African Americans, who have accumulated their anger
and resentment against white people to take it out on the
Koreans at this time.41

In addition, many Korean immigrants recognized that a
larger structure of urban poverty and lack of political power
also contributed to the uprising.
One important consequence of the 1992 Los Angeles riots
was the entry of Korean Americans into mainstream American
politics and the rise of Korean-American political activism.
This was important not just for Koreans but for African Americans and Latinos, too. The riots marked a major turning point
for Korean immigrant communities. Korean immigrants saw
that they could no longer live isolated from mainstream American society. At the same time, many second-generation Korean
Americans realized that, to protect the hard work of their parents and their own place in American society, they would have
to become politically involved.
In the years immediately after the riots, a new generation
of political leaders emerged. These leaders include Angela Oh,
an attorney, who became the spokesperson for the Korean community in Los Angeles after the riots. In 1997, Oh was appointed to President Clintons Initiative on Race. In 1992, California
Republican Jay Kim became the first Korean American elected
to Congress. Korean Americans also registered to vote in record
numbers and began to actively participate in the Democratic and
Republican parties.
Today, many Koreans understand the limits of the ethnic
community in a multiracial society and are working to build alliances with other racial and ethnic groups. One Korean-American activist put it this way:
At the time of the riots, African American communities
were politically strong, but economically frustrated, Asian
American communities were economically stronger and
politically invisible, and Latino communities were both
politically and economically disenfranchised. Ultimately,
we need a multiracial coalition that supports true equality
and enfranchisement. The toughest part will be convincing
80 Korean Americans
Attorney Angela Oh emerged as a spokesperson for the KoreanAmerican community after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In 1997,
Oh was one of seven prominent civic figures appointed by former
President Bill Clinton to serve on the Presidential Advisory Board on
Race Relations, which was established to improve race relations in the
United States. Oh is pictured here with fellow board members Thomas
Kean (left) and John Hope Franklin during the boards first meeting in
July 1997.
those with the most that even if a redistribution of power

means no gains for them in the short term, the society as a
whole will be better for everyone in the long term.42
Today, although many of the issues of race and class are unresolved, the lessons of 1992 have not been forgotten. People
of all racial backgrounds understand that it will take a genuine
multicultural alliance to avoid racial tensions that could potentially escalate into another armed conflict.
Study Questions
1. What events led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots?
2. What kind of racial tensions existed in Los Angeles?
3. Why do you think Korean businesses were looted
and burned during the uprisings?
4. What was the response of the Korean immigrant

community in the aftermath of the riots?
8
Achievements and
Challenges for
Korean Immigrants
ACHIEVEMENTS
n the context of post-1965 immigration from Latin America

and Asia, Korean immigrants have been very successful. Like
earlier newcomers from Asia and Europe, Koreans have established significant communities in urban areas, primarily in
Southern California and in New York.
In a fairly short period of time, Koreans have established
visible Koreatowns, most notably in New York and Los Angeles
but also in smaller cities. Koreatowns have proved important
because they provided Korean immigrants with a number of
resources. For new Korean Americans, a thriving ethnic community provides a job, a place to live, and in general, critical information about how to settle in the United States. At the same
time, Koreatowns provide important ways for immigrants to
maintain ties to their homeland. For example, Koreatowns offer
82
Achievements and Challenges for Korean Immigrants 83

States with the Highest Population

of Korean Americans, 2000
State
Korean-American Population
California
345,882
New York
119,846
New Jersey
65,349
Illinois
51,453
Washington
46,880
Source: 2000 U.S. census
Korean restaurants and grocery stores, Korean bookstores and

movie theatres, and other cultural attractions.
The economic success of Korean entrepreneurs in the United States is one of the communitys most significant achievements. Today, Korean immigrants as a group have the highest
rate of self-employment. In many ways, the visibility of Koreatowns represents the economic success of Korean immigrants.
The large number of Korean immigrants have allowed other
Korean immigrants in the area to open businesses that serve
their fellow immigrants. These businesses include restaurants,
travel agencies, grocery stores, hair salons, and so on.
At the same time, Korean immigrant entrepreneurs have
made their mark beyond Koreatown. In a short period of time,
Korean immigrants have come to dominate a number of industries, including green groceries, nail salons, delis, liquor stores,
wig stores, and convenience stores. Significantly, Korean immigrants have established such businesses in primarily AfricanAmerican neighborhoods.
One reason that Korean immigrants have been able to
succeed economically is because of their class backgrounds.
Unlike previous waves of immigrants to the United States,
84 Korean Americans
Korean grocery stores, such as this one in Wheaton, Maryland, offer

Korean food products to Korean Americans and non-Korean Americans
alike. According to the 2000 U.S. census, there were approximately
1.3 million Korean Americans living in the United States, including
more than 39,000 in Maryland.
Koreans are unique in that a significant number of them came

from middle-class backgrounds and have college degrees. They
also came with money to invest. At the same time, a strong
ethnic community provided additional resources. The personal
sacrifices that Korean immigrant families were willing to
make also contributed to the success of their businesses. One
prosperous Korean businessman described his experiences
running a small market:
We operated that store from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., seven
days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year. We
would get up every day at 5:00 a.m., pick up the produce
from the Central Wholesale Market, stop off at a wholesale

general merchandise market to pick up cigarettes and
sundries, and then open up the store. The only vacation
we ever had was on December 28, 1988, when we sold the
Western market, and March 1, 1989, when we started the
Manchester store. That was the only time off we ever had,
between October 1, 1984, and April 29, 1992, when the Los
Angeles riots disrupted everything. . . . We ran the store by
ourselvesmy wife, my children, and me. Thats how we
were able to minimize our expenses.43
Another important achievement of Korean immigrants has

been their ability to maintain a strong cultural identity and a
tight-knit community. For Korean immigrants, one of the most
important institutions for the maintenance of ethnic identity
has been the Korean church. Like the earliest Korean immigrants, the majority of Korean immigrants today identify themselves as Christians and belong to Korean ethnic churches.
For many Korean immigrants, the church represents more
than a place to worship. Korean churches have served as the
glue for the immigrant community. They provide social services for new immigrants, including English language courses
and citizenship classes. At the same time, the ethnic church
emerged as one of the most important forces in teaching and
maintaining Korean culture for the American-born generation.
Many Korean churches also provide instruction in traditional
dance and music. These types of cultural offerings were particularly important to Korean immigrants who lived outside areas
with significant Korean populations. As many researchers have
pointed out, no matter where Korean immigrants settle, one of
first things they do is establish a church.
In addition to entrepreneurship and the maintenance of a
strong ethnic identity, Korean immigrant communities have been
praised for the second generations educational achievements
and the sacrifices of the first generation that made this possible.
As a result, significant numbers of Korean Americans attend elite
86 Korean Americans
colleges such as Harvard, Yale, and the University of California,
Berkeley. In general, compared to other ethnic and racial groups,
Koreans have one of the highest rates of college attendance.
CHALLENGES
The story of Korean immigration to the United States is not just
a story of achievement, however. Like other immigrant communities, hardship and struggle is also part of this story. Examining the challenges of Korean immigrant communities reveals
the impact of post-1965 immigration.
korean nail salons
n the 1980s, Korean immigrant women pioneered the

nail-care industry in the United States. At a time when
manicures were limited to the very wealthy or were done at
home, the influx of Korean female entrepreneurs changed all
this, and soon manicures were widely available at reasonable
prices.
Korean-owned nail salons are unique for a number of reasons. First, within Korean immigrant communities, it is an industry dominated by women. In places like New York, Korean women
operate roughly 2,000, or 70 percent, of the citys nail salons.*
It is understandable why Korean immigrant women become involved in the nail salon industry. Getting a license requires less
than a year of training, and many beauty schools cater to Korean
immigrant women. In addition, it is work that requires minimal
English language skills, and the demand for manicurists is high.
It also pays well in comparison to other kinds of work. On average,
a manicurist can earn $100 a day before tips. Also, for owners,
the start-up costs are low.
Currently, Ji Baek is one of the most successful Korean
immigrant nail salon owners. She is the owner of the Rescue
Beauty salons in New York and has her own line of nail polishes.

New Korean Immigrants
Although middle-class and upper-class professionals made up
the earliest wave of post-1965 immigration, in the 1980s and
1990s, working-class Koreans also began to immigrate to the
United States. In contrast, these immigrants were less educated,
had less money, and had fewer opportunities for social mobility.
Instead of owning businesses or pursuing professional careers,
these immigrants generally work for other Koreans as cashiers,
waitresses, janitors, and so on. Without education and money,
working-class immigrants have little to offer except their labor,
Articles about her cutting-edge nail fashions have appeared in

such magazines as Vogue, and she has served as a consultant for
numerous fashion shows.
Immigrating to the United States at the age of 12, Baek
trained as a classical musician until an injury ended her career.
At first, her parents were against the idea of their daughter operating a nail salon. Baek recalls, When I told my mom I was
going to open a nail salon, she fainted. I am Korean, so it was
just so stereotypical85 percent of the nail salons in New York
City are Korean owned. My parents feared I was throwing away
the opportunities this country can offer.**
Baeks luxurious chain of nail salons redefined the industry
that had brought manicures to the masses. She focused not only
on unique nail treatments and designs, she also made sure that
the salon itself was a relaxing space. Today, Baek owns three
Rescue Beauty salons and is a leader in the industry.
* Miliann Kang, The Managed Hand: The Commercialization of Bodies
and Emotions in Korean Immigrant-owned Nail Salons, Gender and
Society 17, no 6: p. 824.
** Cora Daniels, Ji Baek Rescue Salons, CNN Money.com (December
1, 2003).
88 Korean Americans
kyes: rotating credit associations
orean immigrants have been very successful in starting their

own businesses for a number of reasons. One critical component of opening a business is start-up funding. It is very difficult
for recent immigrants to borrow money from a bank, however,
because they have no credit history and have been in the United
States only a short time. Instead, Korean immigrants have brought
to the United States the Korean practice of kye, or a rotating
credit association. A kye operates as follows: For example, if 12
families belong to a kye, each family contributes $1,000 every
month. Each family would get one months worth of kye money;
in this example, each family would have access to $12,000 once
a year. This pooling of financial resources provides many Korean
immigrants with the initial money to start a business. More important, not only do kyes provide financial resources, they also encourage immigrants to organize and build a political foundation.
Rotating credit associations are not unique to Korean immigrant
communities; many immigrant groups have used such means to
establish themselves financially in the United States.
and, as a result, many work more than one job to make ends
meet. The success of earlier Korean immigrants, however, has
overshadowed the poverty and problems of working-class Koreans, as well as problems within Korean immigrant communities. One Korean immigrant put it this way:
Many people think that all Koreans go to Harvard and
[get] A-pluses, that all Koreans are rich. This is not so.
This community has a lot of tragedies, a lot of stereotyping in reverse. We have a lot of poor and uneducated
people. Their living conditions are terrible, one crowded
room, everyone working two or three jobs, without life insurance, dental or medical benefits, pensions, workmens
compensation.44

Downward Mobility
Despite their achievements, Koreans have problems and issues that all immigrant groups have had to deal with. These
Many Korean churches, such as Saint Agnes Catholic Church in

Los Angeles, have dance troupes that perform traditional Korean
dances. Pictured here is Yu Sukyung, leading her dance troupe at the
Encuentro 2000 conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
90 Korean Americans
challenges include learning English, looking for work, and
in general adapting to American society. Even middle- and
upper-class Koreans faced these challenges. Many Korean
immigrants who were part of the professional class in Korea experienced downward mobility in the United States.
For example, one second-generation Korean American described the adjustments his family had to make in the United States. In Korea, his father was a mechanical engineer
and his mother came from a wealthy background. In the
United States, his parents worked a wide range of low-wage
jobs, until they saved enough money to go into business for
themselves. He says:
When my parents immigrated to America, my father
became a mechanic and my mother started working as
a motel room cleaner. . . . Just as I was starting seventh
grade, my parents started a sidewalk stand in the District
of Columbia. They sold handbags and fake gold rings. . . .
They have always made it clear that this is privileged information, but I am proud of our humble beginnings in
America.45
The Cost of Success

Although the high rates of Korean immigrant self-employment
have been celebrated as a success, there has also been a cost for
this success. One Korean American commented, Take the typical Korean family. Materially, they may be well off, but in every
other way, they are living in poverty. They absolutely have no
life except working.46
The amount of time that Korean immigrants devoted to
their businesses has had a cost, especially for the children, in
terms of family relationships:
I spent most of my weekends working and playing at
the store. . . . After the stores opened, we never took another family vacation. I used to feel so resentful. Since

my parents worked eighty hours a week, I rarely really
saw them, even if we were at the store together. I learned
to be independent and became more and more distant
from my parents, the culture and language gap became
insurmountable.47
In addition, for recent Korean immigrant families, children

act as translators, which is demanding and also reverses the
child-parent roles. One Korean-American girl stated:
I came five years ago. I live with my parents. Theyre working and cant speak English well, so at the store, if something happens, I have to help them. They cant do anything.
I have to help them with bills. If something goes wrong
with the license I have to go to city hall, even though I
dont know what to do and I have to deal with adults and
Im just a young person and I dont really know what to
do. I would like to just be a student and have a home life,
but I have to solve my parents problems too.48
For other Korean Americans, their parents expectations

also produce high levels of stress. Many Korean Americans
feel obligated to pursue safe careers and fulfill the desires
of their parents, especially as they see firsthand the sacrifices
their parents have made. One Korean American said,
Parents come here for their childrens future, so they
want you to do certain things, and you hear it all the
time. If I find something that I really like to do and my
parents dont approve, theres more distance. Now my
parents have given upnow they want me to do what I
want. But for a while, that was the hardest thingfighting with my parents about what I wanted to do. . . . There
was pressure to do well, not a fierce pressure, but just
guilt because your parents are working 7 days a week. So
I was all primed to become a doctor and I got into medical school.49
92 Korean Americans
For Korean Americans, the pressure of the model minority also has had a negative impact in the pressure it creates. One Korean-American student who was not particularly good in math recalled, I had this math teacher in high
school. I was really bad in geometry, and one time I got a B
on a test and she called me aside, and she wanted to know
if I had studied and I said I wasnt good in geometry and
she said that I should be good at it. I guess its good if they
think youre smart but they shouldnt expect that just because youre Asian.50
Problems Within Korean Communities

Korean communities also have a darker side. Domestic violence
is a serious problem in Korean immigrant communities. In fact,
among Asian Americans, Koreans have the highest rate of domestic violence against women.51 One Korean immigrant was
repeatedly beaten by her abusive husband:
The beatings started the day they returned from their
honeymoon. He choked her until his hands made purple
impressions on her throat, she said. He punched and
kicked her, and slammed her head against the car door,
sometimes smiling all the while. . . . She told herself:
This is my life. I must tolerate it. Even his mom and dad
were aware of the abuse. . . . They said, Endure it, endure
it, you need to just swallow it. You dont know what goes
on in the United States. You dont know anything.52
Although domestic violence is a problem that affects all of

American society, immigrant women are especially at risk, because they often cannot speak English, are isolated because they
work in family businesses, and do not know about the resources
for victims of abuse.
Domestic violence is also part of a larger pattern of family
violence. One Korean-American woman described her fathers
behavior:

There were lots of episodes where he would be very unhappy about something. Im sure it had to do with the
business not being good. He would feel frustrated and
come home. Wed all be sitting around at the table and he
would pick a fight about something. . . . He would sweep
everything off the table. All the dishes would break. For
a long time, we didnt have a complete set of dishes. We
were always replacing them. He used to throw ashtrays
and glasses.
Model Minority
he term model minority first surfaced in the media in the

1960s to refer to the successes of Asian immigrant communities in contrast to other minority groups, such as Latinos
and African Americans. These successes include low of levels of
crime, a high number of college graduates, and higher incomes.
There was a political reason why the model minority thesis
emerged during this period. It was used to critique the poverty
and lack of social mobility within Latino and African-American
communities. It asked, if Asian immigrants could make it by
their own efforts in American society, why couldnt other minority groups?
The model minority thesis poses a number of problems. This interpretation ignores the long history of racism
and discrimination in the United States. At the same time,
the model minority thesis assumes that all Asians are successful, which ignores the fact that problems also exist for
Asian immigrant communities. It is true that many Asian immigrants are successful, but many are not. For example, it
ignores the desperate poverty and social problems of many recent Asian immigrants. The emphasis on success also ignores
the very real effects of racial discrimination experienced by
Asian Americans.
94 Korean Americans
Oftentimes, children would come between their parents,
I think I was about six or seven. I could hear my parents
arguing in the kitchen, and of course my sister and I were
out in the front yard. Then, I dont know why, but I must
have run in and said stop or something. He hit me. . . .
When he hit me, I flew across the kitchen. I dont remember the pain, only being stunned and blacking out for a
second. Then my mother came and said, Dont come in;
dont interfere. I dont want you to get hurt.53
Criminal activity by Korean youth is another serious problem within Korean immigrant communities. In places like Los
Angeles and New York, gang activity is an issue. Korean youth
often involve themselves in gangs in response to the presence
of other ethnic gangs. Sometimes involvement is a response to
the poverty in which many Korean immigrants are raised. One
Korean gang member said,
Im trying to get out of the gang, but every time I look at
this burn on my hand from getting jumped in [initiated],
it reminds me that Im always going to be in this gang because its going to be for life, unless I get laser surgery or
something. If I hadnt gotten this burn I could get out faster.
There are certain ways to get out. It takes a long time. You
dont want to get jumped out. If they jump you out, theyre
just going to beat up on you every time they see you again,
like at the store or at a party. Im going the way where they
just forget about you. I want to gradually fade out.54
Korean immigrants face problems within their communities, but they also face challenges as a minority group in the
United States. Racial discrimination has been especially painful
for second-generation Korean Americans. One Korean American explains: As a child you are sensitive; you dont want to
be different. You want to be like other kids. I was made to understand that I was different, and the differences were negative.

They made fun of my face. They called me flat face. When I
got older, they called me chink or jap or said remember Pearl
Harbor. In all cases it made me feel terrible.55
Korean immigrants, especially those living in urban areas, have also had to negotiate relationships with other nonwhite groups. As a result, Korean immigrant communities
found that they needed to deal with their own prejudices and
discrimination toward African Americans, Latinos, and also,
working-class Koreans. One Korean-American community
activist put it this way:
People of all different races have anti-immigrant feelings.
Blacks, Latinos, Koreans have them, and certainly European
Korean Americans recognize the importance of creating alliances with

other ethnic groups. To that end, civic leaders such as Danny Park
(pictured here, center), who is the executive director of the Koreatown
Immigrant Workers Alliance in Los Angeles, have worked to build
solidarity among ethnic groups and fight for higher wages.
96 Korean Americans
American people have a lot. But because we are all in it
together, we have to think about who really gets the most
out of the poorLatinos, Korean immigrants, people of
colorfighting each other. We have to direct our anger
and frustration toward the right target. Otherwise, we are
going to be fighting each other, and thats not going to
take anyone toward any solution.56
Many Korean immigrants have discovered that, although

a strong Korean community is important and useful, it is also
necessary to build political and personal alliances with nonKoreans.
Affirmative Action
Korean immigrants have suffered because of racial discrimination, but they have also benefited to some degree from being
an underrepresented minority in the United States. Like women, Native Americans, African Americans, and Latinos, Asian
Americans have gained from U.S. affirmative action policies.
Dating to the 1960s, affirmative action was developed by the
U.S. government to address the inequality experienced by various groups in employment and higher education. Korean immigrants, like other Asian immigrants, benefited enormously
from affirmative action in the 1970s and 1980s. The relative
success of Asian immigrants in terms of educational attainment, employment, and income suggests the success of affirmative action for Asian Americans.
This success has also created the perception that Asian immigrants have made it and no longer need affirmative action.
Although this may be true for some, not all Asian immigrants
have achieved educational and occupational success. For example, many recent Korean immigrants come from working-class
backgrounds and live in poverty. The experiences of poor Korean immigrants are ignored in the larger context of Asian-American success. Given the high level of achievement for Koreans

in the United States as a whole, many Korean Americans are
deeply ambivalent about affirmative action. Indeed, although
many in the Korean immigrant community have made it,
events such as the 1992 Los Angeles riots and continued racial
discrimination against Asian immigrants serve as clear indicators that affirmative action policies are still necessary.
The challenges Korean immigrant communities face are
complicated, and there are no easy solutions. Community activists and organizations recognize these problems, however,
and have begun to work toward resolving these issues.
Study Questions
1. What is Koreatown?
2. What factors contribute to the success of Korean
immigrant entrepreneurs?
3. What is a kye?
4. What role does the Korean church play in Korean
Americans lives?
5. What are the costs of financial success?

6. What is the model minority?
7. What kinds of problems exist within KoreanAmerican communities?
8. What is affirmative action?
9
Notable
Korean Americans
espite the long history of Korean immigration in the United States, very little is known about the accomplishments
of Korean Americans. In the more than 100 years of immigration, Korean Americans have accomplished extraordinary
things. There have been novelists, musicians, actors, military
leaders, politicians, and Olympic athletes. At the same time,
there are the unsung heroesordinary people who have made
contributions both to Korean-American communities and to
American society as a whole.
PHILIP JAISOHN: KOREAN-AMERICAN PIONEER

In the earliest period of Korean immigration, Philip Jaisohn
(Soh Chae Pil) was one of the most prominent and well-known
Korean Americans. Born in Korea in 1864, his life spanned some
of the most significant periods of Korean and American history.
98
Notable Korean Americans 99

Jaisohn spent his early career as a government official in Korea.
He recognized that, for Korea to survive the nineteenth century,
there needed to be political change. In an effort to promote this
change, Jaisohn was involved in a failed attempt to overthrow
the Korean monarchy. With his life at stake, he managed to escape to the United States thanks to his American missionary
connections.
Once in the United States, Jaisohn became the first Korean
immigrant to receive American citizenship in 1890. Two years
later, he became the first Korean-American doctor, after he
earned his medical degree at what is now George Washington
University, in Washington, D.C. Despite his success in the United States, he retained a fondness for his homeland, and in 1896,
he returned to Korea in hopes of modernizing the country.
In Korea, he began a program of reform. He started a
newspaper, founded the Independence Club, an organization
dedicated to the modernization of Korea, and taught high
school. Korea was not ready for such change, however, and
in 1898, Jaisohn returned to the United States and settled in
Philadelphia.
For Jaisohn, the colonization of his homeland by the Japanese in 1910 was not a surprise. He had recognized Japans
growing power in the nineteenth century and in many ways
tried to alert his fellow Koreans about Japans ambitions. After
1910, Jaisohn devoted his efforts to Korean independence. He
not only donated every penny he could afford to the cause, but
he worked tirelessly to keep the United States informed about
the Korean situation. For this purpose, he established the Korean Information Bureau; published the Korean Review, a monthly newsletter; and lectured across the country about Korea. He
did all this in addition to practicing medicine.
In his work for the Korean independence movement,
Jaisohn was unusual for a number of reasons. At a time when
the Korean community in the United States was bitterly
100 Korean Americans
Philip Jaisohn (18641951), pictured here speaking before

the Korean Liberty Congress in 1942, was the first Korean
to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. In addition to being an
accomplished physician and businessman, Jaisohn was an
advocate for Korean independence from Japanese rule and
served as the U.S. Military governments chief advisor during
the time of the founding of the Korean Republic in 1948.
divided on how Korea should achieve independence, Jaisohn

was respected by the majority of Korean Americans for his
dedication to his homeland.

After Korea gained its independence at the end of World
War II, Jaisohn returned to his beloved country as an adviser
for the U.S. government, until the founding of South Korea in
1948. Jaisohn died in the United States in 1951, at the age of 87.
He was truly the first Korean American, who, over the course of
his long life, never lost sight of his love and dedication to Korea
and his adopted land.
DORA YUM KIM: COMMUNITY LEADER

Born in 1921 in California, Dora Yum Kim was the daughter
of Korean immigrants. Her father was a railroad worker and
her mother a picture bride. Growing up in San Franciscos Chinatown, as a second-generation Korean American, Kim was a
minority within a minority population. The struggles of her
immigrant family in an America hostile to Asian immigrants
made an important mark on Kim. In the 1960s and 1970s, while
working for the state of California, she placed more than 3,000
Korean immigrants in their first jobs.57 In particular, Kim facilitated the employment of Korean nurses. She recalled making
personal sacrifices to help Korean immigrants:
In order to make space for the programs we were starting
for the new immigrants, my son, Tommy, and I started
a Korean community center at a storefront on Larkin
Street. The nurses course was already set as a six-month
course, so we needed the space for at least that length of
time. We relied heavily on donations and volunteers to
run the place. My husband, Tom, paid the rent for six
months there, my daughter Debby worked at the reception, and thats where I arranged classroom space for the
course.58
She also cofounded the first Korean community center in

the United States and a meal program for Korean senior citizens. When Kim was asked why she had devoted so much time
to serving the Korean immigrant community, she responded,

Its certainly rewarding to be appreciated for the things
youve done, but I dont think that alone can carry you
through. You have to do it because you believe in it. I do
things because they need to be done. Whether I can do it,
whether I want to do it, or whether I should or shouldnt do
itthose questions are irrelevant. If you think too much
about doing something, it wont get done. And if you have
to think that much about doing something, maybe you
shouldnt be doing it. You just have to do what needs to be
done, if you know that it is the right thing.59
SAMMY LEE: KOREAN-AMERICAN OLYMPIAN

Until recently, the athletic achievements of Asian immigrants
have generally been ignored. Although the careers of individuals
such as NBA star Yao Ming are well known, it is important to recognize that there is a long history of Asian-American athletes.
In the 1940s and 1950s, one of the most famous swimmers
in the United States was Sammy Lee. Born in Fresno, California,
in 1920, Lee was the son of Korean immigrants. In 1948, Lee
earned the distinction of being the first Asian American to win
a gold medal at the Olympics, and in 1952, he was the first man
to win back-to-back gold medals in diving.
Lee began diving competitively in high school in Los Angeles. He won numerous awards and graduated as valedictorian of
his class. He continued his athletic career at Occidental College,
where he became one of the top-ranked divers in the country.
After graduating at the top of his class, Lee entered medical
school at the University of Southern California and continued
to dive.
In addition to the hard work involved in training to be a
competitive diver, Lee also faced adversity in the form of discrimination. He recalled, I would practice at the Los Angeles
Swim Stadium and Brookside pool but nonwhites could use
the pool only at Brookside one day a week, on Wednesday. And

then the pool was emptied after we used it, and fresh water was
brought in the next day.60
In 1948, Lee won the Olympic gold medal in platform diving, and four years later he won the gold medal again. For Lee,
his success at the Olympics represented more than individual
achievement: I wanted to show my fellow Americans that we,
Koreans, had a place in American society.61
Lee went on to a successful medical career in Los Angeles,
and he continued his involvement in the sport of diving by
coaching the U.S. Olympic team in 1960. For his achievements
and dedication to diving, Lee was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1990 and carried the Olympic torch during
the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
MARGARET CHO: KOREAN-AMERICAN

COMEDIAN
Today, Margaret Cho is one of the most recognizable AsianAmerican Hollywood celebrities. An author, actor, and comedian, Cho has been a pioneer in the industry. Born in San Francisco, Cho is the daughter of the first wave of post-1965 Korean
immigrants. Growing up in the vibrant Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, Cho became involved in the comedy circuit as a teenager. She won a contest to be the opening act for
Jerry Seinfeld and moved to Los Angeles in the 1990s. In Los
Angeles, her sharp sense of humor about her experiences as a
child of immigrants and as a Korean American kept her in high
demand. In 1994, Cho won the American Comedy Award for
Best Female Comedian and soon was offered her own television
series, All-American Girl.
All-American Girl was short lived, and the pressures of Hollywood, especially issues of appearance and race, caused Cho to
rethink her acting career. She reflected,
There were just so many people involved in that show, and
so much importance put on the fact that it was an ethnic
Korean-American comedian Margaret Cho became the first

Asian-American woman to have a television series based
around her when the short-lived All-American Girl debuted in
1994. Cho, who is pictured here at her Los Angeles home,
also won the American Comedy Award for Best Female
Comedian that same year.

show. Its hard to pin down what ethnic is without appearing to be racist. And then, for fear of being too ethnic, it got so watered down for television that by the end,
it was completely lacking in the essence of what I am and
what I do. I learned a lot, though. It was a good experience
as far as finding myself, knowing who I was and what direction I wanted to take with my comedy.62
This rethinking led Cho to a series of very successful onewoman shows, including Im the One That I Want, Notorious
C.H.O., Assassin, and Revolution, which was nominated for a
Grammy Award for best comedy album. Cho is also the author
of two best-selling books.
For her artistic work and willingness to speak out on matters of social justice, Cho has received numerous awards, from
such groups as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the
National Organization for Women, and the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), who gave her their First Amendment
Award. Cho put it this way:
I didnt mean to be a role model. I just speak my truth.
I guess speaking from your heart really creates a huge
impact, and if I can encourage people to do that, then
I would love to be a role model. If I could encourage
people to use their voices loudly, then thats my reward. I
dont care about winning an academy award; I dont care
about mainstream acceptance, because its never going
to be what I want it to be. I just want to do my work and
love it.63
ANGELA OH: ATTORNEY AND

POLITICAL ACTIVIST
In the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Angela Oh, a
second-generation Korean-American attorney, emerged as the
voice of the Korean community in America. Oh earned her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles,

and her law degree from the University of California, Davis. She
has taught at the University of California, Irvine; she is also an
author and a Buddhist priest.
In the days immediately following the uprising, Oh realized
that she could not stand by as Korean immigrants were blamed
for the riots. She spoke out against the negative media images
of Korean immigrants and worked to provide legal assistance
to Koreans who had lost their businesses. She mobilized other
Korean Americans to also become involved in rebuilding Los
Angeles.
In 1997, Oh was appointed to President Clintons Initiative on Race. Significantly, she was vocal about insisting that
America needed a new way to talk about race. For Oh, the 1992
Los Angeles riots made clear the limitations of understanding
race as a black or white issue. Instead, she pointed out that post1965 America was multicultural:
As I talked to people all around the country, I was impressed over and over again by the number of really decent
people out there. There are so many people trying to find
a way to make things work. They arent filled with hate. Its
easy, if you dont have opportunities to really know people
of different races and nationalities, to be tricked by what
you see or others say.64
Oh recognized that, although community was important

for Korean immigrants, they did not live in isolation. As a result, she encouraged Korean immigrants to build bridges with
other racial groups, especially African Americans, and to participate in local and national politics:
As far as people of color go, as our numbers grow, we
will get more influence over the political process. . . .
To me the question is: Will we behave like many of
the white people who have power nowwill we act
out of vengeance? Or will we be able to demonstrate

that not only are we competent but that we have the
compassion and the stability to exercise power wisely.
I look forward to these challenges and am optimistic
about the future.65
NATALY KIM: AN ORDINARY LIFE

Notable Korean Americans like Philip Jaisohn, Sammy Lee,
Margaret Cho, and Angela Oh are important to the Korean
community, but the vast majority of Koreans in the United
States lead ordinary lives. These people, too, tell powerful stories about their experiences as immigrants.
Born in 1926 in what is now North Korea, Nataly Kim married young, studied nursing, survived the Japanese occupation,
and the Korean War. She arrived in the United States at the age
of 60. In Korea, her husband abandoned her with three small
children and left her in poverty. To support herself and her children, Mrs. Kim learned how to sew.
Eventually, one of her daughters moved to California, and
Mrs. Kim soon followed, to help with her daughters children.
She recalled, Taking care of my grandchildren was very hard.
They were four, six, and nine years old when I first came. I had
to take my four-year-old grandson to kindergarten by bus every
morning and then pick him up every afternoon.66
Despite these duties, Mrs. Kim also worked as a volunteer.
She taught dressmaking at the local YWCA and she organized
a group of Korean women to make clothes for poor womens
babies. She also volunteered at the local public library. She explained, Every Wednesday afternoon, about fifteen of us visit
[the library] to read books to the children who have to pass
their time in the library after school hours because their mothers are working. Some of the children want us to read English
books, and others want Korean books. We read whatever they
want. The children like us.67
Kim also studied English in adult education classes and
made friends with a Thai student who told her about classes

offered through city college. Mrs. Kim declared, I never knew
that an old lady like me could go to college. . . . I am happy with
my life in America. I feel that I have been blessed.68
Study Questions
1. Who was the first Korean immigrant to become an
American citizen?
2. What inspired Sammy Lee to pursue his athletic

career?
3. What is Margaret Cho known for?

4. What kind of world does Angela Oh envision?
5. What makes Nataly Kims life extraordinary?
10
Conclusion
n a fairly short period of time, Korean immigrants have made

their mark on American society. This narrative spans the entire twentieth century and involves the histories of both Korea
and the United States. It is a remarkable journeyone that includes some of the darkest chapters of American history.
In many ways, the Korean immigrant experience is the
typical American storyimmigrants from another land who
sacrifice to make a better life for their families and who believe in the promise and opportunity that America offers. It
is different, however, in that, despite the common immigrant
struggle of settling into a new country, the majority of European immigrants did not face the kinds of racial discrimination that Asian immigrants did in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
This is especially true for the first wave of Korean immigrants who, in spite of racial discrimination, legal exclusion,
109
Although Korean Americans have established themselves in the United

States, their bond to their homeland remains strong. Pictured here is a
group of Korean-American children waving the flags of both the United
States and South Korea during a 2003 rally in Los Angeles against the
development of nuclear weapons in North Korea.
and limited opportunities, built thriving communities in Hawaii and on the mainland, which would ultimately become the
foundation for post-1965 immigration. In a world that was
hostile to Asians, these early Korean immigrants were true pioneers. They were the first Korean immigrants to attend college,
establish businesses, and so on. At the same time, as they established their lives in America, they could not forget Korea. The
political activities of Korean immigrants through the Korean
independence movement demonstrates how immigrants can
be American and still maintain ties to their homeland.
When we consider Korean immigration, the experiences of
Korean adoptees reveal a hidden history, but they also show
Conclusion 111
how the experiences of war and the historic ties between the
United States and Korea shape migration in unexpected ways.
At the same time, the experiences of Korean adoptees also suggest the ways in which American identities are formed and
transformed.
Post-1965 Korean immigration has transformed both the
United States and Canada in significant ways. Korean immigrants have come to dominate specific industries, such as nail
salons, green grocers, liquor stores, convenience stores, and wig
shops. Korean immigrants have also built thriving Koreatowns
that provide a whole range of services for Korean immigrants.
At the same time, events such as the 1992 Los Angeles riots
make it clear that immigrant communities cannot isolate themselves from American society. Korean immigrants have learned,
perhaps painfully, that participating in the American political
process and building alliances with other racial groups is essential for the well-being of Korean communities in the United
States. This is a useful lesson for all Americans, especially as
America becomes increasingly multiracial.
Korean immigration is an American immigrant story. It
is a story of struggle and sacrifice. It is a story of success and
achievement. Finally, it is an unfinished story to which new
chapters will be added with continuing Korean immigration
and the emergence of new generations of Korean Americans.
Chronology

1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, banning Chinese

laborers from entering the United States, is
passed by Congress; United States officially
establishes diplomatic relations with Korea
when the two nations sign the Treaty of
Peace, Amity, Commerce and Navigation.
1890 Philip Jaisohn becomes the first Korean to
obtain U.S. citizenship.
Timeline
1882
Chinese Exclusion
Act passed by
Congress
19031905
First wave of
Korean laborers
arrive in Hawaii
1919
March First
Incident
1882
1919
1910
1890
Philip Jaisohn
becomes a U.S.
citizen
Japan seizes control

of Korea
112
Chronology 113
19031905 First wave of Korean laborers (approximately
7,000) immigrate to Hawaii.

1904 The First Korean immigrant church is established in Hawaii.
1907 Gentlemens Agreement is signed between Japan

and the United States, which halts the immigration of Japanese laborers; this affects Koreans
because after Japanese colonization of Korea in
1910, they are considered Japanese nationals.
1910 Japan colonizes Korea.
1
9101924 Korean picture brides continue to enter the
United States.

1919 March First Incident, the peaceful, mass

demonstration by Koreans against Japanese
colonial rule, occurs.
2003
1965
1924
Immigration Act ends
Asian immigration to
the United States
Immigration and
Naturalization
Services Act
passed
Centennial
of Korean
immigration
to the United
States
1924
1960
2004
2003
1992
Los Angeles riots
1945
Korea liberated
from Japan
114 Chronology

1924 Immigration Act effectively ends Asian immigration to the United States by closing off the
loophole for picture brides.
1940 Korean-American population reaches 8,568.
1941 Internment of Japanese Americans; Koreans,

despite their status as Japanese nationals, are
exempt.
1945 World War II ends with the defeat of Japan;

Korea is liberated.
1948 Korea is divided into North and South Korea

at the 38th Parallel; Sammy Lee becomes the
first Asian American to win an Olympic gold
medal for the United States when he brings
home the first of two gold medals in Olympic
10-meter platform diving.
1
9501953 Korean War occurs, with the Soviet Union and
the United States participating.

1950s Korean adoptions begin in the United States.
1965 Immigration and Naturalization Services Act

relaunches mass Korean immigration.
1992 Los Angeles riots take place from April 29

to May 4; Jay Kim becomes the first Korean
American elected to Congress when he wins
the 41st District seat in California.
1994 Margaret Cho wins the American Comedy

Award for Best Female Comedian.
1997 Kim Jong-il becomes leader of North Korea;

Angela Oh appointed to President Clintons
Initiative on Race.
2003 The centennial of Korean immigration to the

United States.
Notes
Chapter 1
1. Mary Paik Lee, Quiet Odyssey:
A Pioneer Korean Woman in
America (Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press,
1990), 12.
2. H
enry George, The Chinese
in California, New York Tribune, May 1, 1869. Reprinted
in Lon Kurashige and Alice
Yang Murray, eds., Major
Problems in Asian American
History (New York: Houghton
Mifflin, 2003), 99.
3. P
roceedings of the Asiatic
Exclusion League, 19071913.
Reprinted in Lon Kurashige
and Alice Yang Murray, eds.,
Major Problems in Asian
American History (New York:
Houghton Mifflin, 2003),
113.
20, 2002. Available online at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/
world/asia-pacific/2055658.
stm.
8. D
oug Struck, Opening a
Window on North Koreas
Horrors, Washington Post,
October 3, 2003. Available online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A419662003Oct3?language=printer.
9. In Pictures: Korean Family
Reunions, BBC World News,
April 29, 2002. Available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/
hi/asia-pacific/1957844.stm.
Chapter 3
10. Alice Chai, A Picture Bride
from Korea: The Life History of a Korean American
Woman in Hawaii, Bridge
(Winter 1978): 37. Quoted in
Ronald Takaki, Strangers From
a Different Shore: A History
of Asian Americans (Boston:
Little, Brown, 1990), 56.
11. Ibid., 54.
12. Ibid., 55.
13. Sucheng Chan, introduction
to Mary Paik Lee, Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman
in America (Seattle, Wash.:
University of Washington
Press, 1990), xlviii.
Chapter 2
4. B
ruce Cummings, Koreas
Place in the Sun: A Modern
History (New York: W.W.
Norton, 1997), 55.
5. L
ouise Yim, My Forty Year
Fight for Korea (New York:
A.A. Wyn, 1959), 81.
6. Q
uoted in Takaki, Strangers
From a Different Shore, 5455.
7. North Koreans Forced to
Eat Grass, BBC News, June
115
116 Notes
Chapter 4
14. Sonia Shinn Sunoo, Korea
Kaleidoscope: Early Korean
Pioneers in the USA, Oral
Histories, vol. 1. Sierra Mission
Area, United Presbyterian
Church, 1982, 3.
15. Easurk Emsen Charr, The
Golden Mountain: The Autobiography of a Korean Immigrant, 18951960 (Urbana, Ill.:
University of Illinois Press,
1996), 139140.
16. Ibid., 140.
17. Quoted in Takaki, Strangers
From a Different Shore, 290.
18. Soo-young Chin, Doing What
Had to Be Done: The Life
Narrative of Dora Yum Kim
(Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple
University Press, 1999), 51.
19. Ibid., 44.
20. Ibid., 5253.
21. Peter Hyun, In the New World:
The Making of a Korean
American (Honolulu, Hawaii:
University of Hawaii Press,
1991), 189190.
22. Ibid., 56.
23. Ibid., 55.
Chapter 5
24. Eun-Young Kim, Career
Choice Among Second-generation Korean Americans:
Reflections of a Cultural
Model of Success, Anthropology and Education Quarterly
24, no. 3 (1993): 229.
25. Min-Jung Kwak, Work in
Family Business and Gender
Relations: A Case Study of
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
Recent Korean Immigrant

Women. University of British
Columbia, unpublished paper,
2002, 3.
Ibid., 4.
Ibid., 14.
Ibid., 21.
Ibid., 21.
Ibid. 18.
Chapter 6
31. Elaine Kim and Eui-young
Kim, East to America: Korean
American Life Stories (New
York: New Press, 1996), 307.
32. Ibid., 310.
33. Ibid., 312.
34. A Reunion Revisited, Adoption Today. Available online at
http://www.adopting.org/
AdoptionToday/ReunionRevisited.html.
35. Mirim Kim, Seoul Searching:
A Korean-American Adoptee
Visits Her Former Homeland, Adopted Korean Connection.com. Available online
at http://www.akconnection.
com/stories/mirim.asp?cat=4.
36. Soo-ji Min, Home Away
From Seoul: An Examination
of Korean Adoption, Asian
Week (August 13, 2003): 16.
Chapter 7
37. Kim and Kim, East to
America, 39.
38. Ibid.
39. Ella Stewart, Communication
Between African Americans
and Korean Americans: Before
and After the Los Angeles
Notes 117
Riots, in E. Chang and R.
Leong, eds., Los Angeles
Struggles Toward Multiethnic
Community (Seattle, Wash.:
University of Washington
Press, 1994), 40.
40. Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight
Los Angeles 1992 (New York:
Anchor Books, 1994), 245.
41. Kim and Kim, East to America,
248.
42. Ibid., 349.
Chapter 8
182183.
44. Ibid., 210.
45. Ibid., 84.
46. Ibid., 210.
47. Ibid., 8485.
48. JeeYeun Lee, A Preliminary
Needs Assessment of 1.5 and
Second Generation Korean
Americans in the Chicago
Area, Korean American Community Services Report (June
2003), 15.
49. Ibid., 10.
50. Ibid., 13.
51. Sandhya Somashekhar, Abuse
in the Land of Promise,
Washington Post (October 6,
2005).
52. Ibid.
53. I bid.
144.
55. Ibid., 344.
56. Ibid., 333.
Chapter 9
57. Chin, Doing What Had to Be
Done, 3.
58. Ibid., 98.
59. Ibid., 131132.
60. Erika Cheng, Dr. Sammy
Lee: The Elder Statesman of
Olympic Diving, The Asians
in America Project. Available
online at http://www.asiansinamerica.org/museum/1204_
museum.html.
61. Ibid.
62. Margaret Cho, General Bio,
November 11, 2005. Available
online at http://margaretcho.
net/biography/general.htm.
63. Ibid.
64. What Happened to the
National Race Dialogue?: An
Interview with Angela Oh,
Colorlines 2, no. 2 (Summer
1999): 24.
65. Ibid.
272.
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid., 273.
Glossary
affirmative action Dating to the 1960s, an effort was made
by the U.S. government to address inequalities resulting from
discrimination in employment and higher education. Korean
immigrants, like other Asian immigrants, women, and other
racial minorities benefit tremendously in the 1970s and 1980s.
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) Signed into law in 1882, this act
forbade Chinese laborers from entering the United States and
was passed in response to massive anti-Chinese sentiment on
the West Coast that perceived Chinese as economic competitors.
It was the first time in U.S. history that a group was excluded
purely by racial or ethnic category. The act was not repealed
until 1943, when China became a U.S. wartime ally.
Communism A form of political and social organization that
calls for common ownership, generally by the government,
of property and the means of production and equitable
distribution of goods among all citizens to achieve an equitable
and just society.
Confucianism A belief system that provides a clear guide for
all relationships: between rulers and subjects, husbands and
wives, parents and children, and elders and youth. It places an
emphasis on proper and harmonious social relationships in
all aspects of life, including government, the legal system, the
family, and society. Until the nineteenth century, Confucianism
allowed Korea to maintain a stable sociopolitical system on the
North Asian peninsula, as well as, in general, peaceful relations
with her more powerful neighbors.
Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Present-day North
Korea.
Gentlemens Agreement (1907) An accord between the
United States and Japan, whereby Japan stopped issuing
passports to laborers. It was the result of anti-Japanese
sentiment on the West Coast that perceived Japanese
immigrants to be an economic threat. Unlike the 1882 Chinese
118
Glossary 119
Exclusion Act, which singled out the Chinese by name, the
United States could not treat Japan in the same way, given
Japans status as a world power. It ultimately included Korean
immigrants after the colonization of Korea by Japan in 1910.
Immigration Act of 1924 This Congressional act established
a quota system for immigration; allowed for 2 percent of
population from a specific country already present according
to the 1890 U.S. census. It was designed to limit eastern and
southern European immigration, which only began in significant
numbers after 1890, and to encourage immigration from western
Europe. Also closed off any remaining loopholes (for example,
picture brides) that allowed for Asian immigration.
Immigration and Naturalization Services Act of 1965
Abolished national quota system established by Immigration Act
of 1924 and instead established a number of visas for those living
in the Western and Eastern Hemisphere. It also gave preference
to family reunification, which allowed individuals already in the
United States to invite immediate family members to join them.
Also provided for entry of professionals whose services were
needed in the United States, especially in the fields of nursing and
technology. It also relaunched mass Asian immigration.
Korean War Civil war (19501953) between Communist North
and pro-democracy South Korea. After division of Korea into
North and South Korea, at the 38th parallel, following World
War II, tensions escalated on the Korean Peninsula. On June 25,
1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. To help stem the tide
of Communism in Asia as China joined the North Korean war
effort, the United States entered the war in support of South
Korea. A cease-fire was declared in 1953, but to date, no peace
treaty has been signed.
kyes Rotating credit associations used by Koreans and other
immigrants to provide access to money to start businesses and
purchase property. Kyes have been critical to Korean immigrant
entrepreneurship. Many recent immigrants face difficulties
in borrowing money from a bank, because they lack credit
histories and they have lived in the United States only a short
time.
Los Angeles riots (1992) In April 1992, after four white Los
Angeles police officers were declared innocent for the violent
beating of Rodney King, a black man, people took to the streets
and three days of civil unrest began. Hostilities between blacks
120 Glossary
and whites in Los Angeles had occurred for a long time, but in
1992, Koreans became caught in the crossfire as many of their
stores were looted and burned. Korean businesses suffered more
than $4 million in damages.
March First Incident Peaceful mass demonstration held in
Korea March 1, 1919, during the colonial period. It began a
significant period of overseas Korean independence activity.
model minority First surfaced in the media in the 1960s to
refer to the successes of Asian immigrant communities, in
contrast to other minority groups, including Latinos and
African Americans. Low levels of crime, high numbers of college
graduates, and higher incomes are used to define the group.
picture brides Established in the early part of the twentieth
century to allow single Korean and Japanese men to marry,
at a time when Japanese and Korean laborers were prohibited
from entering the United States due to the 1907 Gentlemens
Agreement. The law left a loophole open for wives and families
of Japanese and Korean immigrant men already in America to
enter the United States. Thus, potential brides exchanged photos
with their prospective husbands, and the couple was married
in Korea or Japan by having the brides name entered in the
husbands family register. Once married, these picture brides
could apply for passports to join their husbands in America.
The picture bride system allowed for the emigration of more
than 20,000 Japanese and 1,200 Korean women in the first two
decades of the twentieth century. The loophole was eliminated
by the Immigration Act of 1924.
Republic of Korea Present-day South Korea.
Tangun Founder of Korea in 2333 b.c.
Bibliography
Cha, Kyung-Cha. Pumpkin Flower and Patriotism. Los Angeles: Korean
American Research Center, 1991.
Charr, Easurk Emsen. The Golden Mountain: The Autobiography of a
Korean Immigrant, 18951960. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois
Press, 1996.
Cheng, Erika. Dr. Sammy Lee: The Elder Statesman of Olympic
Diving, The Asians in America Project. Available online at http://
www.asiansinamerica.org/museum/1204_museum.html.
Chin, Soo-young. Doing What Had to Be Done: The Life Narrative of
Dora Yum Kim. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 1999.
Cho, Margaret. General Bio. Available online at http://margaretcho.
net/biography/general.htm.
Cummings, Bruce. Koreas Place in the Sun: A Modern History. New
York: W.W. Norton, 1997.
Daniels, Cora. Ji Baek Rescue Salons, CNN Money.com. Available
online at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2003/1
2/01/359902/index.htm. Updated on December 1, 2003.
George, Henry. The Chinese in California. New York Tribune, May
1, 1869. Reprinted in Lon Kurashige and Alice Yang Murray, eds.
Major Problems in Asian American History. New York: Houghton
Mifflin, 2003.
Hyun, Peter. In the New World: The Making of a Korean American.
Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1991.
In Pictures: Korean Family Reunions, BBC World News. Available online
at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1957844.stm. Updated April
29, 2002.
Kang, Miliann. The Managed Hand: The Commercialization of
Bodies and Emotions in Korean Immigrant-owned Nail Salons.
Gender and Society 17: p. 6.
121
122 Bibliography
Kim, Elaine, and Eui-young Kim. East to America: Korean American
Life Stories. New York: New Press, 1996.
Kim, Eun-Young. Career Choice Among Second-generation
Korean Americans: Reflections of a Cultural Model of Success.
Anthropology and Education Quarterly 24 (1993): p. 3.
Kim, Mirim, Seoul Searching: A Korean-American Adoptee Visits
Her Former Homeland, Adopted Korean Connection.com.
Available online at http://www.akconnection.com/stories/mirim.
asp?cat=4.
Kwak, Min-Jung. Work in Family Business and Gender Relations:
A Case Study of Recent Korean Immigrant Women. University
of British Columbia, unpublished paper, 2002. Available
online at www.uoguelph.ca/cfww/resources/ attachments/MinJung%20Kwak.pdf.
Lee, Jee Yeun. A Preliminary Needs Assessment of 1.5 and Second
Generation Korean Americans in the Chicago Area, Korean
American Community Services. Available online at www.kacschgo.
org/files/report.pdf. June 2003.
Lee, Mary Paik. Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America.
Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, 1990.
Min, Soo-ji. Home Away From Seoul: An Examination of Korean
Adoption. Asian Week. (August 13, 2003): p. 16.
North Koreans Forced to Eat Grass, BBC News. Available online
at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2055658.stm. June
20, 2002.
Proceedings of the Asiatic Exclusion League, 19071913. Reprinted
in Lon Kurashige and Alice Yang Murray, ed. Major Problems in
Asian American History. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003, p.
113.
A Reunion Revisited, Adoption Today. Available online at http://
www.adopting.org/AdoptionToday/ReunionRevisited.html.
Smith, Anna Deavere. Twilight Los Angeles 1992. New York: Anchor
Books, 1994.
Somashekhar, Sandhya. Abuse in the Land of Promise. Washington
Post, October 6, 2005.
Stewart, Ella. Communication Between African Americans and
Korean Americans: Before and After the Los Angeles Riots.
Bibliography 123
In E. Chang and R. Leong, eds. Los AngelesStruggles Toward
Multiethnic Community. Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington
Press, 1994.
Struck, Doug. Opening a Window on North Koreas Horrors.
Washington Post. Available online at http://www.washingtonpost.
com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41966-2003Oct3?language=printer. October 3,
2003.
Sunoo, Sonia Shinn. Korea Kaleidoscope: Early Korean Pioneers in
the USA, Oral Histories, vol. 1. Sierra Mission Area, United
Presbyterian Church, 1982.
Takaki, Ronald. Strangers From a Different Shore: A History of Asian
Americans. Boston: Little, Brown, 1989.
Terry, Don. Decades of Rage Created Crucible of Violence. New York
Times, May 3, 1992.
The Wanderer: The Story of Reverend Sang-chul Lee. A Scattering of
Seeds: the Creation of Canada. Available online at http://www.
whitepinepictures.com/seeds/ii/24/index.html.
What Happened to the National Race Dialogue?: An Interview With
Angela Oh. Colorlines 2, no. 2 (Summer 1999): p. 24.
Yim, Louise. My Forty Year Fight for Korea. New York: A.A. Wyn,
1959.
Further Reading
Chin, Soo-Young. Doing What Had to Be Done: The Life Narrative of
Dora Yum Kim. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 1999.
Kang, K. Connie. Home Was the Land of the Morning Calm: A Saga of a
KoreanAmerican Family. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2003.
Kang, Younghill. East Goes West. New York: Scribner and Sons, 1937.
Kim, Elaine, and Eui-young Yu. East to American: Korean American
Life Stories. New York: New Press, 1997.
Kim, Richard E. Lost Names: Scenes From a Korean Boyhood. Berkeley
and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998.
Kim, Ronyoung. Clay Walls. Sag Harbor, N.Y.: Permanent Press, 1996.
Lee, Maria. Necessary Roughness. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Lee, Mary Paik. Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America.
Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, 1990.
Na, An. A Step From Heaven. Asheville, N.C.: Front Street, 2001.
. Wait for Me. New York: Putnam, 2006.
Takaki, Ronald. Strangers From a Different Shore. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1989.
Trenka, Jane Jeong. The Language of Blood: A Memoir. St. Paul, Minn.:
Borealis Books, 2003.
Web sites
Philip Jaisohn Memorial Foundation
http://www.jaisohn.org
Korean American Historical Society

www.kahs.org
The Los Angeles Korean Community

http://www.msmc.la.edu/ccf/LAC.Korean.html
National Association of Korean Americans

http://www.naka.org/
124
Picture Credits
page:
2: Infobase Publishing
13: Associated Press, AP
24: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
39: Associated Press, HAWAII STATE
ARCHIVES
57: Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
58:
65:
68:
74:
80:
84:
89:
95:
100:
ssociated Press, AP
A
Bettmann/CORBIS
Associated Press, AP
Paul A. Souders/CORBIS
Time & Life Pictures/Getty
Images
1 10: Associated Press, AP
Cover: Associated Press, AP
125
Index
A
adoption. See Korean adoptees
affirmative action, 9697
African Americans
aftermath of Los Angeles riots
and, 5859, 72, 73, 7780,
105107
background of Los Angeles
riots and, 5758, 73, 7476
business loans to, 76
unemployment of, 75
agriculture
in California, 4546
success in, 46
sugarcane industry, 12, 13,
3536, 3839, 41
Ahn Chang-ho, 50
Ahn Cuddy, Susan, 5051
All-American Girl, 103
American Civil Liberties Union
award, 105
American Comedy Award for Best
Female Comedian, 103
Asian Americans, discrimination
against, 15, 16
Asian immigrants
discrimination against, 36,
42
distinguishing among, 14
limiting entry, 1619
as model minority, 92, 93
Asiatic Exclusion League, 18
Assassin, 105
assimilation, 66, 67, 70
See also culture
athletes, 102103
awards, 61, 103, 105
B
Baek, Ji, 8687
belief systems, 22, 23
big brother-little brother
relationship, 22
Bishop, Janice, 6667, 69
Bourke, Gerald, 29
boycotts, 75
Buddhism, 22, 23
Bush, George W., 31
C
California
agricultural industry in, 4546
awards, 50
Korean population in 1940, 15
political involvement in, 79
racial discrimination before
1965 in, 4445, 4647,
102103
self-employment in, 55
Canada, 5962
Cha, Kyung-Soo, 15
Charr, Easurk Emsen, 45
Children Placement Services, 64
China
defeated by Japan, 23
exiled Korean government in,
26
influence on Korea of, 22, 23
North Korea and, 26, 28
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882),
1718
Chinese immigrants
as contract laborers, 38
exclusion of, 1618
Cho, Margaret, 103, 105
126
Index 127
Christianity
churches, 4041, 85
missionaries, 3839, 59
in South Korea, 30
citizenship
denial of, 14
first Korean obtained, 99
civil rights movement, 57
Clinton, Bill, 79, 106
cold war, 26
comedians, 103, 105
Communism, 26, 28
Confucianism, 22, 23
contract laborers, 38
credit associations, 88
criminal activity, 94
culture
Confucianism and, 23
export of Korean, 31
under Japanese rule, 24
Koreatowns and, 8283
maintaining, 42, 4749
maintaining among adoptees,
67, 68, 71
maintaining through churches,
85
sports, 3031
D
defectors, 29
demilitarized zone (DMZ), 28
Democratic Republic of Korea. See
North Korea
discrimination. See racial
discrimination
diving, 102, 103
domestic violence, 9294
downward mobility, 90
Du, Soon Ja, 75
E
education
in Canada, 59
level of immigrants, 84, 87
of second-generation Koreans,
42, 8586
enemy alien classification, 14

entrepreneurship
in Canada, 59, 6062
family life and, 9091
funding businesses, 88
in Los Angeles, 7374, 7677
of post-1965 immigrants, 55
racial discrimination and, 46
success in, 8386
women, 8687
ethnic identity. See culture
F
family businesses. See selfemployment
family life
reunification in United States,
55
reunions of North and South
Koreans, 31
self-employment and, 9091
violence in, 9294
famine
in colonial Korea, 37
in North Korea, 2829
First Amendment Award, 105
food, 47
G
gangs, 94
Gentlemens Agreement (1907), 18,
33, 36
George, Henry, 1617
Gojong (king of Korea), 25
Gojoseon, 2122
Grandma Holt, 64
H
Harlins, Latasha, 7576
Hawaii
early immigration to, 12, 13
isolation of Korean immigrants
in, 4041
Korean population in 1940,
1415
128 Index
laborers in sugar plantations,
3536, 3839
maintaining culture in, 42
picture brides in, 3435
racial discrimination in,
4142
Hawaiian Sugar Planters
Association (HSPA), 38, 40
Hee, Park Chung, 30
Hermit Kingdom, 22
Holt, Bertha, 64
Holt, Henry, 64
Holt International, 64
homecoming visits, 6870
Hwanung (son of heaven), 21
I
identity
of Korean adoptees, 70, 110
111
4849
See also culture
Im the One That I Want, 105
immigration
after 1965, 19, 54, 55
to Canada, 5962
challenges to success of, 8990
during 1950s, 55
number of Koreans from 1952
2004, 12
number of Koreans from 1998
2004, 56
picture bride system and,
3335
quotas, 1819
reasons for, 12, 35, 3639
status of Korean immigrants,
14, 18
working class, 8788, 9697
See also Korean adoptees
Immigration Act (1924), 1819
Immigration and Naturalization
Services Act (1965), 19, 54,
55
Independence Club, 99
Initiative on Race, 79, 106

international adoption, 6365
J
Jaisohn, Philip, 98101
Japan
Korea as colony of, 13, 1415,
2325, 3637
as world power, 18, 23
Japanese Americans, 50
Japanese immigrants
as contract laborers, 38
exclusion of, 18
marriage of, 3334
Jones, George Heber, 40
Joseon Dynasty, 22, 23
K
Kim, Debby, 101
Kim, Dora Yum, 101102
Kim, Jay, 79
Kim, Mirim, 70
Kim, Nataly, 107108
Kim, Tom, 101
Kim Chong-nim, 46
Kim Il Sung, 28
Kim Jong-il, 28
King, Rodney, 58, 73
Koguryo, 22
Korea
as colony of Japan, 13, 1415,
2325, 3637
homecoming visits for
adoptees, 6870
independence movement,
2526
independence movement in
United States, 15, 41, 4748,
99100
independence of, 19
influence of China on, 22,
23
legendary founding of, 21
liberation of, 26, 49
modernization of, 99
returning to, 47, 99
Index 129
See also North Korea; South
Korea
Korean adoptees
annual number of, 64
assimilation of, 66, 67
demand for, 6466
homecoming visits, 6870
identity of, 70, 110111
racial discrimination and,
6667
Korean Overseas Compatriots Prize,
61
Korean Review (magazine), 99
Korean War
aftermath of, 28
children of American soldiers,
6465
cold war and, 26
orphans, 64
Koreatowns, 73, 8283
kyes, 88
L
La Choy Food Products, 47
laborers
contract, 38
in sugar plantations, 3536,
3839
language schools, 47, 48
Latinos
Korean businesses and, 73
Los Angeles riots and, 72, 76
unemployment of, 75
Lee, Mary Paik, 1112
Lee, Sammy, 102103
Lee, Sang-Chul, 61
legends, 21
Los Angeles, 1992 riots
aftermath of, 5859, 72, 73,
7780, 105107
background of, 5758, 73,
7476
M
March First Movement (1919),
2526
marriage
picture bride system, 3335
4849
war brides, 55
media, 74
Methodist missionaries, 40
Min-ja Sur, 25
missionaries
immigration to Canada and, 59
immigration to U.S. and,
3839, 40
model minority thesis, 92, 93
multiculturalism, 66, 71, 78, 7980,
9596
multiracial riots. See Los Angeles,
1992 riots
myths, 21
N
nail salons, 8687
New, Ilhan, 47
New York City, 55
North Korea, 26, 2830, 31
Notorious C.H.O., 105
nursing, 55, 101
O
occupations
in agriculture, 3536, 3839,
4546
Asians as source of cheap labor,
16, 18
professional, 42, 55, 57, 105
107
See also self-employment
Oh, Angela, 79, 105107
P
Paekche, 22
peaches, fuzzless, 46
picture bride system, 3335
platform diving, 102, 103
political involvement, 59, 7980,
105107
Presbyterian missionaries, 40
130 Index
Q
quota system, 1819
R
racial discrimination
affirmative action and, 9697
against Asian Americans, 15, 16
against Asian immigrants, 36,
42
in California, 4445, 4647,
102103
in Hawaii, 4142
Korean adoptees and, 6667
maintaining cultural identity
and, 48
by minorities, 7677, 9596
model minority thesis and,
92, 93
second-generation Koreans
and, 9495
self-employment and, 46
World War II and, 51
religion
importance of churches, 4041
missionaries, 3839, 40, 59
in South Korea, 30
See also Confucianism
Republic of Korea. See South Korea
Rescue Beauty saloons, 8687
Revolution, 105
Rhee, Syngman, 30, 41
riots. See Los Angeles, 1992 riots
rotating credit associations, 88
Russia, 23
Russo-Japanese War (1905), 23
S
sa-i-gu, 72
See also Los Angeles, 1992 riots
second-generation Koreans
civil rights movement and, 57
educational achievements of,
42, 8586
in Hawaii, 4142
identity of, 4849
maintenance of culture and, 42
political activism of, 7980,

105107
as professionals, 42
racial discrimination and, 48,
9495
stresses on, 9092
self-employment
in Canada, 59, 6062
funding businesses, 88
in Los Angeles, 7374, 7677
of post-1965 immigrants, 55
racial discrimination and, 46
sacrifices and, 9091
success in, 8386
women entrepreneurs, 8687
Seoul, Korea, 25
Silla, 22
Sino-Japanese War (1895), 23
Smith, Wallace, 47
social mobility
downward, 90
8586
of working-class immigrants,
8788, 9697
Soh Chae Pil, 98101
South Central Los Angeles. See Los
Angeles, 1992 riots
South Korea
cultural exports of, 3031
established, 26
first president, 41
Korean War and, 28
North Korean defectors to, 29
Soviet Union, 26, 28
sports, 3031, 102103
S.S. Gaelic, 35
sugar plantations, 12, 13, 3536,
3839, 41
swimming, 102
Switzer, Suzanne, 6970
T
Tangun (Korean leader), 21
38th parallel, 26
Thompson, Walter, 75
Index 131
Three Kingdoms, 22, 23
Toronto, Canada, 59, 62
U
United Nations, 26, 29
United States
children of soldiers and Korean
women, 6465
Korea independence movement
in, 15, 41, 4748, 99100
Korean immigrants admitted
19522004, 12
Korean population before
1965, 44
Korean population by state, 83
Korean population currently,
54
Korean War and, 26, 28
limiting entry of Asian
immigrants, 1619
Navy, 5051
occupation of South Korea
by, 30
reasons for success in, 8386
V
Vancouver, Canada, 59, 62
violence, 45
See also Los Angeles, 1992 riots
W
war brides, 55
women
children of American soldiers
and Korean, 6465
comedians, 103, 105
community leaders, 101102
employment in family
businesses, 6062
entrepreneurs, 8687
political activists, 79, 105107
in U.S. Navy, 5051
World War II
liberation of Korea, 26
opportunities during, 5152
patriotism during, 4950
status of Korean immigrants
and, 14
women in U.S. Navy, 5051
Y
Youngman, Park, 41
youth gangs, 94
Yuhan Corporation, 47
About the Contributors

Series Editor Robert D. Johnston is associate professor and director
of the Teaching of History Program in the Department of History at
the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the author of The Making
of America: The History of the United States from 1492 to the Present,
a middle-school textbook that received a School Library Journal Best
Book of the Year award. He is currently working on a history of
vaccine controversies in American history, to be published by Oxford
University Press.
Anne Soon Choi is assistant professor of American Studies at the
University of Kansas. Her research interests include explorations of
American empire, U.S. Immigration, and the global circulation of
political ideology.
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the new immigrants

the new immigrants

Anne Soon Choi

Series Editor: Robert D. Johnston

9 Notable Korean Americans

Chronology and Timeline

orn in 1900, Mary Paik Lee immigrated to America with

Number of Immigrants Admitted to

*Prior to 1949, immigration data for Korean Americans was not

Koreans in North America 13

Ronald Moon, chief justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court, is a

n the eventful days following Japans bombing of Pearl Harbor

created a very different social dynamic. Also in this time period,

Koreans in North America 15

Korean immigrants in the United States, especially in Hawaii

Korean immigrants in Hawaii, whereas on the mainland, the

THE POLITICS OF EXCLUSION

Koreans in North America 17

The anti-Chinese movement originated on the West

Large-scale immigration to the United States by Korean Americans did

Koreans in North America 19

(continued from previous page)

3. What is significant about the 1882 Chinese

4. What prompted anti-Asian feelings in the United

5. How were Koreans excluded from immigrating to

ccording to legend, a very long time ago, a she-bear and a

THE HERMIT KINGDOM

The Home Country 23

KOREA UNDER JAPANESE RULE

The Home Country 25

Koreans did not accept colonization passively. Despite the

THE TWO KOREAS

The Home Country 27

The Home Country 29

The Home Country 31

At the same time, it is clear, especially in the aftermath of

3. Why was Korea called the Hermit Kingdom?

5. What led to the division of Korea?

n the early part of the twentieth century, the picture bride

ne Korean immigrant woman recalled her initial response,

The First Wave: Korean Immigration to Hawaii 35

Like this picture bride, the earliest Korean immigrants came

working side by side with their husbands in the sugarcane fields.

LEAVING THE LAND

The First Wave: Korean Immigration to Hawaii 37

During the early 1900s, Japanese colonization and the resultant

immigrant declared, When I saw my country fall into the hands

The First Wave: Korean Immigration to Hawaii 39

Another factor that enticed Koreans to leave their homeland was

The First Wave: Korean Immigration to Hawaii 41

2. What were the pull factors for Korean

The First Wave: Korean Immigration to Hawaii 43

3. How did the picture bride system work?

5. What unique opportunities did Korean

n the period before 1965, the largest Korean communities in

Koreans on the Mainland 45

Moreover, this racial hostility at times was violent. Charr

Many Korean immigrants who settled in California during the early

Koreans on the Mainland 47

hen it comes to Chinese food in the United States, one of