Korean Americans


Korean Americans are Americans who have full or partial Korean ethnic ancestry. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American implies the holding of American citizenship.
As of 2022, there are 1.5–1.8 million Americans of Korean descent, of whom roughly 1.04 million were born abroad, accounting for 8% of all Asian Americans and 0.5% of the total U.S. population. However, prominent scholars and Korean associations claim that the Korean American population exceeds 2.5–3 million, which would make it the largest community Overseas Koreans in the world, ahead of China's 2.1 million.
Nearly the entire population of Korean Americans traces its ancestry to South Korea, with North Korea accounting for a negligible number. An estimated 20,000 second generation Korean Americans are "dual citizens by birth" of South Korea and the United States of America.
In contrast to Northeast Asia, which is grappling with significantly low birth rates, the number of Korean Americans with both parents from Korea is growing by 5.9%. Moreover, the population of those with mixed heritage is increasing at a rate of 16.5%.

Background

As of 2023, Korean Americans made up about 0.6% of the U.S. population, numbering approximately 2 million people. They are the fifth-largest subgroup within the Asian American community, following Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, and Vietnamese Americans.
The United States is the residence of the world's most extensive Korean diasporas, largely from South Korea. As of 2006, due to historical diplomatic challenges stemming from the Korean War in the 1950s, the number of North Korean defectors to the United States has remained below 220, constituting a negligible 0.008352 percent of the total Korean American demographic. Thus, it is evident that an overwhelming majority, approximately 99.991648 percent, of the Korean American population traces its roots to South Korea. The Republic of Korea is acknowledged as a principal ally of the United States, fostering a relationship built on intertwined economic interests, and strategic security cooperation.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, as of 2021, the population of Overseas Koreans residing in the United States was 2,633,777. This figure includes both U.S. citizens of Korean descent and South Korean nationals living in the U.S. Specifically, there were 1,529,855 U.S. citizens of Korean descent and 1,103,922 South Korean nationals. By 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau reported the number of Korean Americans as 1,469,854, considering only those who identified with a single race. Notably, about 1,011,589 of these individuals were born in Korea. The population has remained relatively stable into 2023, with the Overseas Koreans Foundation reporting a figure of 2,615,419.

Demographics

As of 2023, the United States, which is home to the largest population of overseas Koreans, has the following distribution of Korean Americans.
  • In California, there are 558,338 Korean Americans.
  • New York City has a Korean American population of 141,745.
  • Texas is home to 115,107 Korean Americans.
  • New Jersey's Korean American community numbers 113,736.
  • Virginia is home to 94,275 Korean Americans.
  • Washington has a Korean American population of 92,798.
  • Illinois includes 81,340 Korean Americans.
  • Georgia's Korean American community comprises 75,525 individuals.
  • Maryland has 48,468 Korean Americans.
  • Other states collectively account for 509,870 Korean Americans.
In 2023, the proportion of Korean Americans in the population varies significantly across the United States. The highest proportion is in Hawaii, accounting for 3.87% of the state's total population. California follows with 1.43%, hosting a large Korean American community; this is notably high considering the overall Korean ethnicity ratio of 0.59% in the U.S. Washington State, New Jersey, and Virginia also have relatively large Korean American communities. Maryland's proportion is 0.97%, and Alaska's is 0.95%. Nevada has 0.72%, New York City 0.71%, and Georgia 0.69%.File:Day124ckoreatown.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Korean Americans have achieved a high demographic profile in some U.S. cities, including New York City.
The two metropolitan areas with the highest Korean American populations as per the 2010 census were the Greater Los Angeles area Combined Statistical Area and the Greater New York Combined Statistical Area. The Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area ranks third, with approximately 93,000 Korean Americans clustered in Howard and Montgomery Counties in Maryland and Fairfax County in Virginia. Southern California and the New York City metropolitan area have the largest populations of Koreans outside of the Korean Peninsula. Among Korean Americans born in Korea, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had 226,000 as of 2012; New York had 153,000 Korean-born Korean Americans; and Washington had 60,000.
By percentage, the Korean American population of Bergen County, New Jersey, in the New York City Metropolitan Area, at 6.5% of Bergen County's population in 2022, was the highest of any county in the United States. Bergen County, host to the county's highly ranked Academies magnet public high school as well as to the North American headquarters operations of South Korean chaebols including Samsung, LG Corp, and Hanjin Shipping, was home to all of the nation's top 10 municipalities by percentage of Korean population. These top 10 municipalities in the growing Korean hub of Bergen County, New Jersey, across the George Washington Bridge from New York City, were led by Palisades Park, the municipality with the highest density of ethnic Koreans in the Western Hemisphere. Displaying ubiquitous Hangul signage and known as the Korean Village, Palisades Park uniquely comprises a Korean majority, at 53.7% of the borough's population in 2022. with both the highest Korean-American density and percentage of any municipality in the United States. The city of Los Angeles contained the highest Korean American population of any city proper in 2010, approximately 108,282. Between 1990 and 2000, Georgia was home to the fastest-growing Korean community in the U.S., growing at a rate of 88.2% over that decade. There is a significant Korean American population in the Atlanta metropolitan area, mainly in Gwinnett County and Fulton County.
According to the statistics of the Overseas Korean Foundation and the Republic of Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 107,145 South Korean children were adopted into the United States between 1953 and 2007. In a 2005 United States Census Bureau survey, an estimated 432,907 ethnic Koreans in the U.S. were native-born Americans, and 973,780 were foreign-born. Korean Americans that were naturalized citizens numbered at 530,100, while 443,680 Koreans in the U.S. were not American citizens.
While people living in North Korea cannot—except under rare circumstances—leave their country, there are many people of North Korean origin living in the U.S., a substantial portion who fled to the south during the Korean War and later emigrated to the United States. Since the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 allowed North Korean defectors to be admitted as refugees, about 130 have settled in the U.S. under that status after 2004. The counties with largest Korean population are Los Angeles County and Orange County in California, Bergen County in New Jersey, and Queens County in New York.

History

Korean Immigration to the US can be divided into four phases:
  1. Small-scale immigration around 1884
  2. Early immigration from 1903 to 1950
  3. Immigration following the Korean war
  4. Immigration following the 1965 Immigration Act

    Small-scale immigration around 1884

Around 1884, following the establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Korea through the Treaty of Peace, Anmity, Commerce, and Navigation, a small number of diplomats entered the US as part of the 1883 Korean special mission to the United States. Included among the members of this mission were and Yu Kil-chun, the latter of whom stayed in the US for several years to study, making him the first Korean exchange student in the US.

Early immigration from 1903 to 1950

One of the first Korean Americans was Philip Jaisohn, who came to America in 1884 and became a leader in the movement for Korean independence. Another prominent figure among the Korean immigrant community is Ahn Chang Ho, art name Dosan, a Protestant social activist. He came to the United States in 1902 for education. He founded the Friendship Society in 1903 and the Mutual Assistance Society. He was also a political activist during the Japanese occupation of Korea.
Another prominent figure among the Korean immigrant community was Syngman Rhee, a Methodist. He came to the United States in 1904 and earned a bachelor's degree at George Washington University in 1907, a master's degree at Harvard University, and a PhD from Princeton University in 1910. In 1910, he returned to Korea and became a political activist. He later became the first president of the Republic of Korea.
In 1903, the first group of Korean laborers came to Hawaii on January 13, now known annually as Korean American Day. The migration of Koreans to Hawaii can be explained by conditions in both the US and Korea. Koreans suffered from a series of natural disasters and heavy taxation. In Hawaii, plantation owners who had relied upon Chinese and Japanese labor faced a labor shortage after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Koreans were brought in as an alternative labor source. King Kojong promoted Korean immigration by establishing a Korean Department of Emigration and granting American businessmen permission to recruit Koreans for immigration to Korea.
Between 1904 and 1907, about 1,000 Koreans entered the mainland from Hawaii through San Francisco. Many Koreans dispersed along the Pacific Coast as farm workers or as wage laborers in mining companies and as section hands on the railroads. Picture brides became a common practice for marriage to Korean men. Other than those seeking better economic opportunities in the US, there were also Koreans who left for the US as refugees of the Japanese empire. Between 1910 and 1918, 541 students escaped Japan and arrived in the US through a third country. Individuals such as Whang Sa Sun, who were deeply involved in the Korean independence movement also came to the US to escape Japanese persecution. Between 1905 and 1910, political activities in Korean American communities surged in opposition towards Japanese aggression towards Korea.
Korean Americans formed organizations throughout the US, with a concentration in Hawaii and California. In 1903, the same year that the first Korean laborers arrived in Hawai, Koreans formed the Sinminhoe. In 1909, two of the largest Korean American organizations would merge to form the Korean National Association, the largest Korean immigrant organization in North America. Established in San Francisco, The Korean National Association, would eventually expand to 130 chapters. The organization coordinated the activities of Korean Americans across North America, holding mass protests and positioning itself as the official representative of Korean Americans. Leaders included An Changho, Syngman Rhee, and Park Yong-man. This organization, along with many others, would play a key role in the Korean independence movement between 1910 and 1945.
After the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, Korean migration to the United States came to a virtual halt. The Japanese colonial government had initially allowed Koreans to immigrate to the US starting in 1902, but later banned Korean emigration to secure manpower on the Korean peninsula and to protect Japanese Americans from Korean competition in the US. The Japanese government did, however, allow Korean women to immigrate to the US to pacify nationalist sentiment in Korean American communities. The Immigration Act of 1924 '' also worked to systematically exclude Korean immigrants from coming to the US.