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Korean immigration to Mexico began in 1905. The first Korean migrant workers settled in
Yucatán Yucatán, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida. ...
, while more recent migrants from
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 ...
often choose
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
as their destination. According to the embassy, an estimated 11,800 Korean nationals live in Mexico, with thousands more Mexican nationals of full or partial Korean descent.


Migration history


Early 20th century

In the late 19th century, social instability and natural disasters in Korea resulted in increasing emigration from the country. At first, emigrants chose nearby destinations such as
Northeast China Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...
and the
Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...
. By the early 20th century they began going farther afield, for example in 1902 to Hawaii. However, increasing Japanese influence on the Korean peninsula made this controversial: Japanese labor brokers were opposed to Koreans choosing Hawaii as their destination, believing this would interfere with Japanese migration there and they lobbied Japanese foreign minister Komura Jutarō to address the situation. Meanwhile, in Mexico, there was increasing interest in hiring workers from Asia to address labor shortages in the agricultural sector, but the Japanese government placed restrictions on the recruitment of labor migrants for Mexico due to the expectation of poor conditions and the Chinese government was also opposed due to previous experiences with poor treatment of Chinese workers in Peru. It was against this background that labor brokers began advertising in newspapers in the Korean port city of
Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...
in 1904 for workers willing to go to Mexico to work on
henequen ''Agave fourcroydes'' or henequen is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to southern Mexico and Guatemala. It is reportedly naturalized in Madeira, Italy, the Canary Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Cayman I ...
plantations for four or five-year contracts. Working conditions proved to be harsh with workers being beaten or jailed for either not working or not producing the status quo. A total of more than one thousand were recruited and departed from port of Chemulpo, present ( Jung District), Incheon on board a British cargo ship on 4 April 1905, despite efforts by the Korean government to block their departure. They arrived at the Mexican port of
Salina Cruz Salina Cruz is a major seaport on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is the state's fourth-largest city and is the municipal seat of the Municipalities of Oaxaca, municipality of the sa ...
,
Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
about a month later on 8 May 1905, from there taking trains to their final destination: Progreso, Yucatán. By the time their contracts ended, most had not even saved enough money to pay for the return voyage to Korea, despite earlier promises of high wages by recruiters, and furthermore saw little attraction in going back to their no-longer-independent homeland. Most thus settled in Mexico, either continuing to work on henequen plantations or moving to various cities in the country. Some made efforts at onward migration: a
Korean American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...
community organization in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
tried to bring some of them to Hawaii, but to no avail. In 1921, after the collapsing demand for henequen fiber threatened their livelihoods, 288 Koreans set off for Cuba from the port of
Campeche Campeche, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, make up the Administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the sta ...
. About eight hundred of their descendants still live in
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
.


Late 20th and early 21st centuries

A new wave of Korean migrants began coming to Mexico in the 1970s. These consisted both of people coming straight from
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 ...
, as well as members of
Korean diaspora The Korean diaspora consists of around 7.3 million people, both descendants of early emigrants from the Korea, Korean Peninsula, as well as more recent emigrants from Korea. Around 84.5% of overseas Koreans live in just five countries: the Unit ...
communities in other countries of the Americas—particularly from
Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
and from
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
—seeking to try their luck in Mexico. Up until the late 1980s their numbers seem to have remained quite small; the Asociación Coreana en México counted only 64 families and 15 or 20 single people among its members. Larger numbers began arriving in the 1990s: according to South Korean government statistics, the size of the community reached its peak in 1997 with around 19,500 individuals before falling to 14,571 by 2005.


Demography


Population estimates

According to the 2011 report of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on overseas Korean populations, 11,800 overseas Koreans resided in Mexico, down by 2% since the 2009 report. Among them were 876 Mexican citizens, 1,607 South Korean citizens with Mexican permanent resident status, 388 South Korean
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 remainder being South Korean citizens with other types of visas. Mexico City was their most common area of residence, with 6,340 recorded as living there; 1,300 others lived in
Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...
state, with the remainder in other locations. The 2010 Mexican census recorded 3,960 people who responded that their place of birth was South Korea, up from 327 in the previous census in 2010. This made South Korea the 18th-largest foreign country of origin in Mexico, but those born in South Korea comprised only about 0.4% of the 961,121 total foreign-born persons the census found to be residing in the country. A 2012 report by Mexico's National Institute of Migration, based on 2009 statistics, stated that 534 North Korean citizens and 6,028 South Korean citizens lived in Mexico. A plurality but not a majority of each of those groups (258 and 2,261) lived in Mexico City. By migration status, 317 of the North Koreans and 2,970 of the South Koreans were non-immigrants. Each group had a
sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...
somewhat imbalanced towards males. Other sources also report a wide variety of population estimates. A September 2013 article in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', citing officials at the Korean Cultural Center, Mexico City, stated that "at least 12,000 Koreans now call Mexico home".Page 3/4
: "Officials at a newly opened Korean cultural center here say at least 12,000 Koreans now call Mexico home, .. and "There were 10 times as many Koreans living in Mexico in 2010 as in 2000." — Also introductory title caption says "at least 12,000 Koreans are said to live in Mexico".
The article stated that in 2010 the Korean population in Mexico was ten times as large as the said population in 2000. In contrast, a 2008 report from the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' claimed that the descendants of early henequen plantation laborers alone might number as many as thirty thousand.


Centers of Korean population

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
's Zona Rosa district has a Koreatown known as
Pequeño Seúl Pequeño Seúl () is a Koreatown in Mexico City. Most of the city's Korean population lives in and around the Zona Rosa. According to the newspaper '' Reforma'', there are at least 5,000 Koreans living in Zona Rosa and about 6,000 total in Co ...
(Little Seoul), filled with businesses established by the new migrants. There, many Korean restaurants can be found as well as hair salons, bakeries, and daycare centers. In the 1990s, others also set up shop in Tepito. Other districts in Mexico City where Koreans live include Colonia Juárez, Santa Fe, Interlomas, Polanco and Anzures. Other centers of Korean population include: *
Yucatán Yucatán, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida. ...
, where there can be found descendants of Korean immigrants who worked as indentured laborers on the henequen plantations in the late 19th and early 20th century. These Koreans, many of whom are of mixed Korean and local descent, are often called ''aenikkaeng'' () after the henequen plantations on which they worked. *
Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...
in
Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...
where, for example, the Chuseok Harvest Festival is celebrated * In the north-central states of
Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...
,
Colima Colima, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima, is among the 31 states that make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima. Colima is a small state of western Mexico on the cen ...
,
Aguascalientes Aguascalientes, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes, is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of above sea level it is pre ...
, and
Nayarit Nayarit, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in Municipalities of Nayarit, 20 municipalit ...
, a community of about a thousand Koreans; within Jalisco, Koreans are concentrated in
Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...
and Zapopan. The University of Nayarit offers Korean language course and a degree in Korean studies, the only one in Latin America. * The
Monterrey Metropolitan area The Monterrey metropolitan area, also known as Greater Monterrey, refers to the surrounding urban agglomeration of Monterrey, Nuevo León. Officially called , the metropolitan area is the Metropolitan areas of Mexico, 2nd-largest in Mexico. Ove ...
suburb of Huinalá,
Apodaca Apodaca () is a city and its surrounding municipality that is part of Monterrey Metropolitan area. It lies in the northeastern part of the Monterrey Metropolitan Area. It is known for becoming recently a heavy industrialized city. As of 2019, ...
) has a new Koreatown filled with businesses in Korean and Spanish. * Juriquilla,
Querétaro Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...
, north of
Querétaro City Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...
, where a Korean community has established itself in the area for foreign investment, like the Samsung plant located at the Parque Industrial Juriquilla, north of Querétaro City. * Pesquería,
Nuevo León Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...
is a town in the north of Mexico where Kia motors opened a plant. 6,000 South Koreans arrived the area. Billboards in Korean and Spanish text abound in the city, as well as South Korean businesses. The town is referred to as "
Pescorea Pescorea is the name given to the immigrant community from the Korean Peninsula settled in the city of Pesquería, in the Mexican state of Nuevo León. The term is therefore an acronym for the name of this town and the peninsula. These Korean immi ...
".


Culture


Language and education

Henequen plantation workers, initially seeing Mexico solely as a place of sojourn rather than of settlement, initially made little effort to learn either Spanish or the local indigenous languages. However, as their stay in the country became permanent, they slowly began to abandon the Korean language, and their descendants speak only Spanish. In contrast, more recent migrants retain Korean as their dominant language. A 2006 survey of 160 Korean migrants in
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
, both those from South Korea and those from other Korean diaspora populations of the Americas, found that 92% used Korean as the language of communication with their families; 6% used both Korean and Spanish, and only the remaining 2% used Spanish exclusively or English as well. With regards to their command of Spanish, 21% stated that they could understand newspapers, 52% stated that they could hold simple conversations, and the remaining 27% stated that they could only make simple greetings or had no command of the language. There is a weekend school aimed at preserving knowledge of the Korean language among heritage speakers: the Escuela Coreana en México, located in Mexico City. For two decades from the 1990s up until 2010 it occupied a variety of rented facilities, but that year it was able to acquire its own premises thanks to US$850,000 donations by companies and other benefactors to the Asociación de Residentes Coreanos en México. It is currently located in Zona Rosa. The Korean-language paper newspaper ''Hanin Diario'' () has been published in Mexico City since the 1990s.


Religion

Early Korean migrants to Mexico included a few Christians whose emigration was motivated by the desire to find a place to freely practice their religion. Among more recent arrivals, both Christians and Buddhists are present. The former planted many churches in the 1990s, while the latter established two temples in the 2000s. Branches of the World Mission Society Church of God, a South Korea-based church, are present in Estado de México, Morelos, Puebla, Nuevo León, and Jalisco, with the Mexican headquarters in
Tacuba Tacuba is a district in the Ahuachapán department of El Salvador. Church Of Tacuba It is located in Villa of Tacuba. It is head of the municipality of the same name in the department of Ahuachapán, at about 14 Kilometers of the city of Ahuac ...
, Mexico City.


Other organizations

The Korean Association in Mexico (, ) organizes concerts, protests at the North Korean embassy, and other activities. In Polanco, Mexico City, there is a Korean cultural center, Korean Cultural Center, Mexico City, with activities both artistic (exhibitions, traditional music concerts, folk art shows) and academic (language and Korean history courses).
Mérida, Yucatán Mérida (, ) is the capital of the List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Yucatán, and the largest city in southeastern Mexico. The city is also the seat of the Mérida Municipality, eponymous municipality. It is located slightly inland fro ...
is host to a number of things related to Korea, including the Museum of Korean Immigration ('' Museo Conmemorativo de la Inmigración Coreana a Yucatán''), the Korea–Mexico Friendship Hospital, the Korean migration to Mexico centennial monument, and the road Avenida República de Corea.


In literature

One literary portrayal of the early Korean community in Mexico was Kim Young-ha's 2003 Korean-language novel ''Black Flower'', translated into English by Charles La Shure. The book won Kim the 2004 Dong-in Literary Award as well as a nomination for the 2012
Man Asian Literary Prize The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to write ...
.


Notable individuals

Dai-won Moon Dai-won Moon is a South Korean-born Mexican martial artist and is known as the Father of Mexican Taekwondo. He introduced taekwondo to Mexico in 1969. Since then, with over 1.5 million taekwondo practitioners and 3,500 schools throughout the c ...
is a South Korean-born, naturalized Mexican martial artist and is known as the "Father of Mexican Taekwondo". Ssoni Park is a hair stylist with a salon in
Pequeño Seúl Pequeño Seúl () is a Koreatown in Mexico City. Most of the city's Korean population lives in and around the Zona Rosa. According to the newspaper '' Reforma'', there are at least 5,000 Koreans living in Zona Rosa and about 6,000 total in Co ...
( Zona Rosa) who attracts clients from across the country including many models, actors and singers, including the Banda el Recodo, Klezmeron, friends of architect Michel Rojkind, and those who sought her services after she appeared in the credits of a short film by Raquel Romero Monterrubio. Digital creator Sujin Kim, better known as Chingu Amiga, is also one of the best-known Koreans in Mexico and Latin America. She moved from South Korea to
Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...
in 2016 to work in the Mexican headquarters of Korean companies as a graduate
economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
. She studied
International relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...
at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in the Faculty of Political Sciences and International Relations. Kim also worked as a Korean-language teacher at the same university and on her own website. In 2021, she gained recognition on social media with short videos in which she shared her life and her experiences as a Korean living in Mexico, gaining more than 20 million followers on
TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
and 7 million on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.


See also

* Mexico–North Korea relations * Mexico–South Korea relations *
Pequeño Seúl Pequeño Seúl () is a Koreatown in Mexico City. Most of the city's Korean population lives in and around the Zona Rosa. According to the newspaper '' Reforma'', there are at least 5,000 Koreans living in Zona Rosa and about 6,000 total in Co ...
*
Pescorea Pescorea is the name given to the immigrant community from the Korean Peninsula settled in the city of Pesquería, in the Mexican state of Nuevo León. The term is therefore an acronym for the name of this town and the peninsula. These Korean immi ...


References


Sources

* () * * ()


Further reading

* * * *


External links


Los que llegaron - Coreanos
from Canal Once
Korean Immigrants To Mexico - "Aenikkaengs"
{{Ethnic groups in Mexico
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
Ethnic groups in Mexico Korean diaspora in Latin America Mexico–North Korea relations Mexico–South Korea relations Asian diaspora in Mexico