Korean Brazilians (, ) are

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ians of full, partial or predominantly

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

n ancestry or a Korean-born person residing in Brazil. The Korean population in Brazil, the largest in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, is about 50,000. On 6 January 2010, per Municipal Law no. 15100, the São Paulo City Council officially recognised Bom Retiro as the Korean cultural neighbourhood. In terms of religion, the vast majority of Korean Brazilians are Protestant, with a minority of Catholics. There are more Korean churches than Korean restaurants in the Korean Brazilian community. There are also three Buddhist temples located in Korean communities in Brazil, which also attract non-Korean worshippers. Since the 1990s, a net overall return migration pattern has evolved of Korean and Japanese Brazilians back to Korea and Japan, respectively.

History

There were cases of Koreans immigrating to Brazil during the Japanese occupation of Korea such as Kim Soo Jo. In 1961, the Korean-Brazilian association made a deal to take Korean immigrants and the Korean-Brazilian cultural diplomatic group surveyed possible locations that would fit the Koreans. Official agricultural immigration from South Korea to Brazil began in 1962, and the early Korean people who immigrated to Brazil were helped by anti-

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

political prisoners. Korean immigrants soon abandoned their agricultural projects and moved to

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, mainly to Bom Retiro, which was originally a Jewish area but became one of the centers of Korean residents. Most of the Korean residents began to work in the clothing industry. In 1976, the South Korean government built the "Cross saemaul farm" near

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

to solve the illegal Korean immigrants problem in Brazil. The Korean community was influenced by the 1994 economic policy

Plano Real The Plano Real (" Real Plan",The word ''real'' in Portuguese could be translated either to ''real'' or ''royal'' in English. The name of the plan comes from the name of the currency which was chosen to give the idea of a stable and credible p ...

Culture

Newspapers

Before 1985, daily newspapers existed such as the ''Hankook Daily'' or ''Chosun Daily'', but these early newspapers ended up being a republishing of already existing Korean articles from South Korea. In 1985, the first Korean tabloid magazine ''Newsbrazil'' (published until 2011) was founded by Kim Jong Nam. The magazine helped the Korean-Brazilians, who were often illiterate in Portuguese, understand local economic policies and ads were placed. It also played as a role as a communication space.

Education

Colégio Polilogos Colégio Polilogos () was a South Korean international school in Bom Retiro, São Paulo, Brazil. It was operated by Associação Brasileira de Educação Coreana (ABEC; ) and was the largest Korean international day school in South America. It was ...

(브라질한국학교), a South Korean international school, was located in Bom Retiro,

Notable persons

Angela Park Angela Park (, born August 25, 1988) is a Brazilian Americans, Brazilian-American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. She holds dual citizenship in Brazil and the United States. Childhood and personal life Park was born in Foz do ...

, LPGA golfer (South Korean parents) * Francisco Hyun-sol Kim, professional footballer (South Korean parents) * Chyung Eun-ju, beauty pageant titleholder, model, student and TV presenter (Originally from

Seoul, South Korea Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

) *

Catharina Choi Nunes Catharina Choi Nunes (born 24 January 1990), also known by her Korean name Choi Song-ee (; also romanised as Choi Song-yi), is a South Korean-Brazilian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned both Miss Earth Korea 2013 and Miss B ...

, Miss Korea 2013 second runner-up, Miss Earth Fire 2013, Miss World Brazil 2015 (Korean Brazilian mother) *

Iara Lee Iara Lee (born 1966) is a Brazilian film producer, director and activist of Korean descent who works mainly in the Middle East and Africa. Her documentary films include ''Unite for Bissau (Nô Kumpu Guiné)'' (2023), ''From Trash to Treasure: Turn ...

, filmmaker (Korean descent) * Jibeen, member of Korean boy group

ARrC ARRC may stand for: * Advanced Radar Research Center, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma, USA * Advanced Institute for Research on Religion and Culture, Hyderabad, India * Advanced Rocket Research Center, NCTU, Taiwan * Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, ...

Jung Mo Sung Jung Mo Sung (born 1957) is a Roman Catholic lay theologian, writer and lecturer trained in theology, ethics, and education. He was born in South Korea, and raised in Brazil where he lives today. Sung is currently a professor in the graduate p ...

, liberation theologian (Originally from

) * Kim Yun-sik, South Korean

hapkido Hapkido ( , , ), also spelled ''hap ki do'' or ''hapki-do'' is a Korean martial art. It is a hybrid form of self-defense that employs joint locks, grappling, chokeholds, throwing techniques, kicks, punches, and other striking attacks. ...

and

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

grandmaster, founder of Bum Moo Kwan Hapkido (Originally from

) * , journalist, writer (Originally from

) * , YouTuber, illusionist, hypnologist (South Korean father) *

Juliano Son Juliano Son (born 11 February 1974) is a Brazilian Christian singer, songwriter, missionary and worship pastor. He is the leader of the ministry Livres Para Adorar. Life and career Juliano Son is descendant of Korean immigrants who came to Br ...

, singer and worship minister (South Korean parents)

References