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Korean American
Total population
1,520,703 0.5% of the US population (2006)[1]
Regions with significant populations
California, New York City Metropolitan Area, Washington Metropolitan Area, Hawaii, Seattle Metropolitan Area
Language(s)
American English, Korean
Religion(s)
Christian (chiefly Protestant); Buddhist

Korean Americans (Korean: 한국계 미국인, Hanja: 韓國系美國人, hangukgye migugin) are Americans of Korean descent.

Contents 1 Demographics 2 History 3 Politics 4 Socioeconomics 5 Religion 6 See also 7 References 7.1 Notes 7.2 Sources 8 External links

As of 2000, there were approximately 1.4 million Korean Americans,^[2] with large populations in California, New York, Texas, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, and Virginia. Los Angeles, with its Koreatown district, is home to the largest population of Koreans outside of Asia. Palisades Park, New Jersey has the highest concentration of people of Korean ancestry in the United States at 36.38% of the population.

There are 56,825 adopted children of Korean nativity and place of birth (2000 U.S. Census); in addition, 99,061 Koreans were adopted into the U.S. from 1953-2001 (Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2002).^{[citation needed]}

In a 2005 United States Census Bureau survey, an estimated 432,907 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.^[2]

The first group of Korean laborers came to Hawaii in January 1903 to fill in gaps created by problems with Chinese and Japanese laborers. Between 1904 and 1907 about 1,000 Koreans entered the mainland from Hawaii through San Francisco.^[3] Many Koreans dispersed along the Pacific Coast as farm workers or as wage laborers in mining companies and as section hands on the railroads.

After the annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, Korean migration to the United States was virtually halted. Picture brides became a common practice for marriage to Korean men. After World War II, opportunities were more open to Asian Americans, enabling Korean Americans to move out of enclaves into middle-class neighborhoods. 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, and as many as 150,000 adoptees. As many as one in four Korean immigrants in the United States can trace their immigration to the wife of a serviceman. With the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Koreans became one of the fastest growing Asian groups in the United States, surpassed only by Filipinos.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Koreans became noted for their small businesses such as dry cleaners and convenience stores. Tensions between these owners and their customers, often African American, were publicized by press coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots as well as by the American film industry's movies such as Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.

Their children, along with those of other Asian Americans would also be noted in headlines and magazine covers in the 1980s for their numbers in prestigious universities. Favorable economics and education have led to the painting of Asian groups such as the Koreans as a "model minority."

A number of U.S. states have declared January 13 as Korean American Day in order to recognize Korean Americans' impact and contributions.

A small number of Koreans immigrated to the United States in the early years of the twentieth century to work on Hawaiian sugar plantations. The difficult working conditions on the plantations motivated some Korean Americans to move to the mainland where many continued in agricultural work. Their numbers were so limited that they were a fairly dispersed group, not gathering in enclaves as other immigrants have. On the mainland, they experienced the same kinds of discrimination that other Asian groups encountered including being prohibited from attending school with whites in San Francisco, being unable to intermarry with whites (California Anti-Miscegenation Law of 1901) and being unable to own land in California (1913 Alien Land Law). The years from 1910-1940, when Japan occupied Korea, were particularly difficult for many Korean Americans as they thought of themselves more as exiles than immigrants and felt they were without a country. Immigration quotas kept the number of Korean immigrants relatively low through the 1950's when most of the immigrants were Korean War brides, orphans, or students.

In 1965, the Immigration Act abolished the quota system that had restricted the numbers of Asians allowed to enter the United States. Large numbers of Koreans, including some from North Korean that have come via South Korea, have been immigrating ever since, putting Korea in the top five countries of origin of immigrants to the United States since 1975. The reasons for immigration are many including the desire for increased freedom and the hope for better economic opportunities. In South Korea, which is roughly the size of Maine and has a population density second only to Bangladesh, there is an oversupply of college graduates including many engineers, nurses, and doctors.

In a poll from the Asia Times before the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election, Korean Americans narrowly favored Republican candidate George W. Bush by a 41% to 38% margin over Democrat John Kerry, with the remaining 19% undecided or voting for other candidates [1].

Korean Americans hold diverse occupations, just as other ethnic groups in the U.S. do. As a generalization, some first generation Korean Americans run small businesses such as restaurants, small retail shops, and dry cleaning businesses. Such businesses often require some capital and long hours. Some Koreans immigrate at the expense of working in a job below their level of education to obtain an education in American schools for their children.

Korean Americans in America have historically had a very strong Christian heritage. More than 70% of Koreans living in America are Protestant or Roman Catholic. The other 28% are Buddhist and 2% non-religious or spiritualist-structuralist.

• List of Korea-related topics
• List of Korean Americans
• Koreans
• Korean adoptees
• Korean American writers
• Seattle Korean Cultural Festival
• Koreatown
• Koreatown, Chicago
• Koreatown, Manhattan
• Koreatown, Los Angeles
• Asian American
• Demographics of the United States

• Huntington, Samuel. "Are We a Nation "Under God"?", The American Enterprise, July-August 2006. Retrieved on 2007-02-20. 
• Patterson, Wayne (2000). The Ilse: First-Generation Korean Immigrants in Hawai'i, 1903-1972. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824822412. 

• Arirang - Interactive History of Korean Americans
• The Korean American Museum
• Korean American Historical Society
• KoreAm Journal
• AsianWeek: Korean American Timeline
• Sign Language (article on anti-Korean zoning ordinances)
• Korean American Heritage Foundation
• Korean American Foundation

v • d • e Asian Americans
East Asian	Chinese · Japanese · Korean · Mongolian · Taiwanese
South Asian	Bangladeshi · Indian · Indo-Caribbean · Nepalese · Pakistani · Sri Lankan · Tibetan (otherwise considered Central Asian)
Southeast Asian	Burmese · Cambodian · Filipino · Hmong · Indonesian · Laotian · Mien · Thai · Vietnamese
Other	Asian Latino · Eurasian · Amerasian

v • d • e Koreans outside of Korea
East Asia	People's Republic of China (Mainland · Hong Kong) · Republic of China (Taiwan) · Japan
Southeast Asia	Indonesia · Malaysia · Philippines · Singapore · Vietnam
Rest of Asia	Arab world · Iran · Former USSR (Central Asia · Sakhalin · North Koreans)
Outside of Asia	Africa  · Australia  · Canada  · France  · Germany  · Mexico  · United Kingdom  · United States
Dialects	Koryo-mar · Zainichi Korean language
Other topics	Adoptees · Koreatowns · North Korean defectors