Koreans in Iran have a history dating back to the 1970s, when

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n labour migrants began flowing into the country. However, most returned home or moved on to other countries. In 2011, only 405 Koreans lived in the country. By 2025, there were around 100.

Migration history

South Korean migration to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

grew at an average annual rate of 90% between 1971 and 1977, although the total number of migrants from Korea grew only by an annual average of 18% during that same period; South Koreans departing their home country for Iran composed just 0.2% of all officially-registered emigrants in 1971 (roughly 150 individuals), and only 177 individuals in 1974, but 1.8% (2,402 individuals) in 1975 and 3.4% (6,264 individuals) in 1977. The vast majority were male. Hyundai Construction's first project in the entire

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

was a 1975 contract for the construction of a

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

for the

Iranian Navy The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN; ), also referred as the Iranian Navy (abbreviated NEDAJA; ), is the naval warfare service branch of Iran's regular military, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (''Artesh''). It is one of Iran's two maritim ...

near

Bandar Abbas Bandar Abbas (, ) is a city in the Central District of Bandar Abbas County, Hormozgan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. Bandar Abbas is a port on the southern coast of the country, on the Persian ...

, and they and other ''

chaebol A chaebol ( , ; , ) is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group. Several dozen large South Kore ...

'' quickly expanded their business in the region. Between 1977 and 1979, nearly 300,000 South Korean workers from two dozen companies came to work in the Middle East. The largest proportion of those went to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, though Iran was also a major destination; at one point, migration to Iran made up 17% of all migration to the region. In total, in the decade following 1975, 25,388 South Koreans went to Iran. The 1979

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

would have a negative effect on South Korean business in Iran, as well as proving dangerous for Korean workers in the country; on one occasion, revolutionaries attacked a construction site seeking to drive away "foreign devils"; five workers were killed and twenty others injured in a traffic accident that arose as they fled. The Korean Air Force had to be called in to evacuate Korean nationals. The number of South Koreans going to Iran fell from 7,418 in 1978 to 64 in 1979 and only 30 in 1980, though by 1985 the rate of migration had recovered to almost half of its pre-revolutionary level, with 3,669 migrants. However, due to the economic effects of the revolution and the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

, as well as South Korea's rising labour costs, the practise of importing labourers from South Korea to work in the Middle East slowly became less widespread during the late 1980s; for example, the proportion of Korean labourers working on construction projects for Hyundai declined from 70% to only 20-30%, with the shortfall being taken up by local labourers instead. By 2009, only 614 South Korean nationals remained in the country. They consist primarily of government officials, corporate expatriates, and Koreans married to Iranians. By 2011, the number of South Korean nationals or former nationals in the country had shrunk further, to 405 persons. Among them, 42 (3 men, 39 women) had Iranian nationality, 20 were

international student International students or exchange students, also known as foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their secondary or tertiary education in a country other than their own. In 2022, there were over 6.9 million international ...

s, and the remaining 342 had other kinds of visas. Most (315) lived in Tehran, with a smaller concentration of 32 at

Asaluyeh Asaluyeh () is a city in the Central District of Asaluyeh County, Bushehr province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. It is also the administrative center for Asaluyeh Rural District. Demographics Population A ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

ns also have a presence in the country, mainly related to their assistance to Iran's nuclear programme; according to ''

The Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...

'', there is one hotel in Tehran and another on the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

coast set aside for the use of

North Korean diplomats North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

Community organisations

The Korean Association of Iran () was set up in 1970. Its president, Jo Seung-mi, graduated from

Hanyang University Hanyang University (HYU, ) is a Private university, private research university in Seoul and Ansan (ERICA campus), South Korea. ''Hanyang'' () derives from the Names of Seoul, former name of the capital Seoul used during the Joseon period. The u ...

and formerly worked as a ballet dancer. She met her Iranian husband while he was studying at the Seoul Agricultural College (now part of the

University of Seoul The University of Seoul (UOS; ) is a municipal public university in Seoul, South Korea. UOS is famous in South Korea for a very large number of alumni working as national or municipal government officials in South Korea. UOS specializes in ur ...

) as an

; in 1977, she followed him back to Iran. She was elected to her post in 1997. , the association had roughly 300 members. Iran's sole school for South Korean nationals, the Tehran Korean School (; also known as the Korean Embassy School), was established on 30 April 1976; it uses

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

as the primary

medium of instruction A medium of instruction (plural: media of instruction, or mediums of instruction) is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. If the first language of students is different from the offic ...

, with

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

used for science and computer classes, and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

offered as a

foreign language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a specific country. Native speakers from that country usually need to acquire it through conscious learning, such as through language lessons at schoo ...

. , it enrolled 29 elementary-school students.

References

External links

Korean School in Tehran
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koreans In Iran Ethnic groups in Iran