Korea is a small country that is located in Asia. It is a country surrounded by China in the west, Russia to the north and on the eastern side of it lies Japan. The peninsula of mountains of Korea has been separated or divided into two different countries after the end of the Korean War in 1953. The two countries that were formed after the Korean War are the People’s Republic of Korea or also known as the North Korea, and the Republic of Korea or known today as South Korea (Korean American History, no page).
Korea also experienced sufferings from great economic and political uproar throughout its history despite of its rich legacy of culture. Koreans in the beginning of the early 20th century wanted to search for a new life and their immigration to America opened windows and doors of opportunities for them in order to start a new chapter in their lives. Korean immigrants came to America in three different groups throughout the last century (Korean American History, no page.).
The first Korean to be naturalized as a citizen of the U.S. is Philip Jaisohn or also known as Seo, Jae-pil. He arrived in the territory of the United States in 1885 as a political exile and he was also the first Korean-American to be a medical doctor and was also one of the most influential political reformers in Korea when he got home in 1896 (National Association of Koren Americans, no page).
The ship S.S. Gaelic carried 56 men, 21 women, and 25 children travelled across the Pacific Ocean from Korea to the U.S. in December 1902 where it landed in Honolulu Hawaii in January 1903 (National Association of Koren Americans, no page). The next Korean wave of immigrants happened during the Korean War from the year 1950 to the year 1953. It was after the wives of the servicemen of U.S. arrived in America. This became possible because of the War Brides Act of 1946 and the McCarran-Walter Act where Asians were allowed to go to America in little quantities and then become official citizens of the United States. The combination of these two acts constitute to the immigrations of Koreans who are either war orphans for adoption, war brides, or students and workers who are already professionals (Zong and Batalova, no page).
The third wave of Korean immigration to the United States started after the Immigration Act of 1965 was passed. This is the largest wave of Koreans, and also the time when large number of immigrants from Asian countries went to the United States of America. immigrants from all over the world including Asia were permitted to enter the United States in substantial numbers for the first time in U.S. history. Koreans were the first ones to take advantage of the new laws that is why before 1980s, almost one of three Asian immigrants of the United States were Americans (Korean American History, no page).
Immigrants from North and South Korea might have different and distinct reasons for moving into the United States since Korea has been divided into two countries. What are we going to do in the following pages of this paper is that we will try to compare and contrast North and South Korean immigrants now that we have known the history of the Koreans going to the U.S..
North Korea has regarded the unauthorized departure from the country as an act of treason. People who are going out of the country or helping others to be able to cross the border in illegal ways are detained in political penal-labor colonies. These prisoners have to serve their two to seven years of imprisonment where the rates of death and tortures are extremely high. The number of the emigration from North Korea is increasing despite the restrictions set forth by the government of North Korea. The emigration from North Korea would primarily consist of refugees as well as contract workers who are temporary and who are sent by the North Korean government to work abroad (Tanaka, no page.).
The flows of North Korean refugees to other countries including the United States started in the late 1970s. The numbers intensified when a series of floods, famine, and drought struck North Korea in 1990s and killed between 600,000 to 1million people or equivalent to the 3-5% population of the country (Tanaka, no page.).
The Public Distribution system which is the North Korea’s rationing system could not provide enough food to the majority of the country’s population in 1993-1995. That is why the country asked for aid from neighboring countries and it pushed many North Koreans to get out of their country.
Aids and supports that were given to North Korea were controlled and monitored by the country that is why nongovernmental associations or NGOs could not really check if the donations that were given by them were really delivered or the North Korea took advantage of it to store foods (Tanaka, no page.). Maybe that is one of the reasons why North Koreans were forced to immigrate to other countries like the U.S.
North Koreans were able to go to the United States of America after the U.S.A. passed the North Korean Human Rights Act in 2004. This act does not totally barred the North Koreans from the eligibility of being called as refugees or asylum in the U.S. due to any legal rights of citizenship that they may enjoy under the Republic of Korea’s Constitution (Tanaka, no page).
The numbers of North Korean refugees that were adopted by the U.S.A were very small. Only 122 refugees from North Korea went to U.S.A. and only 25 North Koreans have received political asylum ever since the U.S. adopted the North Korea Human Rights Act in 2004 (Cohen, no page). This is because the U.S.A. still fears the spy activities of North Korea that they might conduct after stepping to America.
Most North Koreans prefer to go to South Korea, but there are still others who prefer to go to the United States because of the varying economic and educational opportunities. North Koreans were reportedly to experience discrimination from the South Koreans that is also why they tend to go further to be able to fit in, and to hide their identities (Zong and Batalova, no page).
North Koreans also went to farther countries like the United States for the fear that if they transferred to nearer countries like South Korea, information about them might easily reach the North Korea and the North Korea might harm their families, friends, as well as their professional associates (Zong and Batalova, no page).
As for the South Koreans, they did not find any difficulties emigrating to the U.S.A. since they are from a free country. The majority of South Korean emigrants settle in America, with some of them heading to Japan, China, and Canada (Zong and Batalova, no page).
South Korea has the third most international students to the United States, just trailing behind China and India. More than 70,600 South Koreans are studying in America in the school year 2012-2013. However in the past years, the number of South Koreans going to the United States declined because of the improvement of the political and economic status of South Korea where a small number of South Koreans had returned to their motherland along with their U.S.-born children (Zong and Batalova, no page).
Los Angeles has emerged as the major center for the Korean community. It also coined to as the “Koreatown”, or the “Korean capital overseas.” The Korean Community experienced fast transition which started in the year 1990. The transition happened because the Korean banks and corporations started to invest heavily on that place. The arrival of thousands of Koreans during that period as well as the arrival of Hispanics contributed a lot to the formation of that community. However, the community was hit hard by the Korean riot in 1992. Koreans transferred from South California to the San Francisco Bay Area where they opened new businesses and bought properties in the downtown part of Oakland for the growth of the Korean Community until the early years of 2000s because of the riot (Zahniser, no page).
The emigration of North Koreans as well as the South Koreans was not a smooth sailing course. Only a small numbers North Koreans who seek refuge and asylum to the United States were granted. This is confusing because the United States of America has the largest refugee resettlement program in the whole world where 73,293 refugees from all around the globe were brought into the country in 2010 and 25 of that number only came from Korea (Department of State, no page).
One of the obstacles why only a small number of North Koreans were given the refugee status is because of the view that they can also go to South Korean. Since North Koreans share a common language, ethnicity, and culture to the South Koreans, as well as the generous benefits that they get upon entering South Korea, U.S.A. view the South Korea as the resettlement country of choice for the North Koreans in all cases (Department of State, no page).
North Koreans can also have the right of citizenship to the South Korea. The United States find the North Koreans to be ineligible for a U.S. refugee status due to the fact that they can be protected by the Republic of Korea. However the U.S. Government Accounting find this reason as an erroneous one since not all people who want to get out of North Korea are able and are willing to go to South Korea. That is why North Koreans can only avail of the refugee status on the U.S.A. if they will first avail themselves the right to citizenship first to South Korea (Department of State, no page).
Both North Koreans and South Koreans had the struggles of speaking in English fluently. That is why they were not at first able to work at their particular professions in which they were trained when they were in Korea. A significant number of Koreans who transferred to the United States could not find jobs such as engineers, lawyers, doctors, architects and other professions although they have graduate degrees as well as highly skilled background (Terrazas and Batog, no page).
New immigrants from Korea later on chose to open up their own businesses and become their own bosses to respond to the struggles that they experienced. Korean-owned grocery shops, restaurants, and dry cleaner shops can be seen now all throughout the country. Koreans have a strong tradition of entrepreneurship. Surveys conducted in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Atlanta concluded that almost one out of three Korean households have a self-owned businesses. In the 1970s, Korean immigrants would later on start a small business after working for years on assembly lines or in maintenance companies. Today, Korean immigrants can now start small businesses of their own shortly after arriving to the United States. Korean Americans can also be seen in almost all walks of life in America- from artists, activists, dancers, doctors, editors, engineers and so on (Asian Nation, no page).
Presently, Koreans can be seen all throughout America. They had a rich history of immigration in the States. The United States is exerting all of its efforts to receive the waves, and to give refuge to many people from all over the world including the Koreans. People going to a new culture which is different from the ones that they used to be in should learn on how to adjust to the changes and to the new system.
Works Cited
Asian Nation. Korean Americans. 7 December 2014 <http://www.asian-nation.org/korean.shtml>.
Cohen, Roberta. Admitting North Korean Refugees to the United States: Obstacles and Opportunities . 20 September 2011. 7 December 2014 <http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2011/09/20-north-korea-cohen>.
Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova. Korean Immigrants in the United States. 3 December 2014. 7 December 2012 <http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/korean-immigrants-united-states>.
Korean American History. 7 December 2014 <http://apa.si.edu/Curriculum%20Guide-Final/unit1.htm>.
Tanaka, Hiroyuki. North Korea: Understanding Migration to and from a Closed Country . 7 January 2008. 7 December 2014 <http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/north-korea-understanding-migration-and-closed-country>.
Terrazas A. and Batog C. Korean Immigrants in the United States. August 24 2010. 7 December 2014 <http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/korean-immigrants-united-states-0>.
Zahniser, David. "Koreatown residents sue L.A. over redistricting." Los Angeles Times 1 August 2012.
