History
Korean American immigrants’ reasons for emigration from Korea were more internal than external. Korea, during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 suffered for over six years. This war was then followed by the Russo- Japanese War, and then by the Japanese annexation of Korea itself. All the wars involving Korea created a gap between literatures of the time period. Only 8,000 Koreans had gone to Hawaii before Japan stopped Korean emigration in 1905. Japan took this action to keep Koreans from competing with Japanese immigrants to the islands and to the West coast of the United States.
When the Korean War ended in 1953,
small numbers of students and professionals entered the United States. A larger group of immigrants included the wives of U.S. servicemen. As many as one in four Korean immigrants in the United States can trace their immigration to the wife of a serviceman. Korean political refugees and churches formed organizations to promote Korean independence from Japan. With the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Koreans became one of the fastest growing Asian groups in the United States. Koreans wanted to remain in the United States, especially because they did not want to return to their homeland dominated by Japan. The earlier Korean immigrants had been mostly peasants. Many were Christians, and their churches became the communal places for many Korean Americans.
After World War II, Korea was divided in two. North Korea became a Communist ally of the Soviet Union, while South Korea was allied with the United States. There was no emigration from South Korea, with the exception of a few isolated cases, until 1952. There was no emigration from North Korea because the North Koreans had dropped an iron curtain across the peninsula following the division. After the Korean War (1950-53), North Korea became a closed society.
By 1970, there were more than 70,000 Koreans in the United States. As the 1965 immigration law began to take effect, the Korean population increased dramatically. A large number of the new immigrants were white-collar professionals, including physicians.
Korean immigrants have impacted many cities by opening small businesses. In Los Angeles and New York, Korean immigrants can be found on almost every street corner running dry cleaners, nail salons, groceries, liquor stores, and flower shops. Based on the 1980 U.S. Census, about 12 percent of Korean Americans were self-employed in small businesses.
Korean immigrants, who came to the United States with relatively high levels of education, but only ending up opening a small business, saw this hardship as an opportunity. The reason was mainly because their professional and middle class backgrounds did not protect them from racial discrimination and language barriers. Many Korean immigrants were not familiar with American customs and culture, and their college degrees from prestigious Korean universities were not often recognized. It almost was impossible for Korean immigrants to apply their training in Korea unless they went back to school in the United States. Even if they went back to school in America, it was difficult for these first generation immigrants to master a new language, leaving them extremely disadvantaged when competing with English speakers.
Korean immigrants, therefore, decided to be self-employed in their own businesses despite the expected hardships of running small businesses. The decision to pursue self-employment was not their personal preference but rather a survival strategy. To run a small business was a solution for those who experienced discrimination in the mainstream labor market but wanted to support their family, raise children, and eventually invite their parents from Korea. Their businesses ultimately made it possible for many Korean immigrants to send their children to American colleges to obtain professional jobs in the American mainstream labor market obtaining white-collar jobs.
Living in the United States, Korean American students of high school age generally outscore other students on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and their overall grades are higher. They make up a disproportionately large segment of student bodies in the most prestigious colleges and universities.
Although the Korean communities have faced great hardships, they have assimilated into the American way of life and are constantly growing in numbers and recognition.
