borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
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Bergen County
Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.U.S. state of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, is centered around the business district on Broad Avenue, which has been called a "Korean food walk of fame".
Background
The municipalities with the highest
density
Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...
of ethnic
Koreans
Koreans are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. The majority of Koreans live in the two Korean sovereign states of North and South Korea, which are collectively referred to as Korea. As of 2021, an estimated 7.3 m ...
in the
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...
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 ...
'', December 15, 2010. Accessed July 18, 2017. at 53.7% of the borough's population in 2022. Along with Palisades Park, abutting towns also have high percentages: Leonia (%), Ridgefield (%), Fort Lee (%). Chusok Korean Thanksgiving harvest festival has become an annual tradition in Bergen County, attended by several tens of thousands. In the 1990s, a continuous stream of Korean immigrants moved into Palisades Park and purchased most businesses; It became one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Koreanenclaves outside of
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 ...
(and has been called ''Koreatown on the Hudson'', the ''Korean Village'', and ''Little Korea''). Broad Avenue is the biggest and densest Korean commercial district in Bergen County, the heart of the Korean American community, and growth of the community has been accelerated by zoning laws which allow duplex homes on land previously containing a single home.
Cuisine and culture
Broad Avenue in Koreatown has been referred to as a "Korean food walk of fame", with diverse offerings. Palisades Park's Koreatown now incorporates the highest concentration of Korean restaurants within a one-mile radius in the United States, and Broad Avenue has evolved into a Korean dessert destination as well. Korean Chinese cuisine is now also available in Koreatown, as is misugaru. Bulgogi and galbi are staples on Broad Avenue in the Palisades Park Koreatown. Korean cafés have become a major cultural element within Palisades Park's Koreatown, not only for the coffee, '' bingsu'' (shaved ice), and pastries, but also as communal gathering places.
Koreatown in Palisades Park has emerged as a dominant nexus of Korean American culture. The Palisades Park Senior Citizens Center provides a popular gathering place where even Korean grandmothers were noted to follow the dance trend of the worldwide viral hit ''
Gangnam Style
"Gangnam Style" () is a K-pop song by South Korean singer Psy, released on July 15, 2012, by YG Entertainment as the lead single of his sixth studio album, ''Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1'' (''Ssai Yukgap Part 1''). The term "Gangnam Style" is a n ...
'' by South Korean "
K-pop
K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...
" rapper
Psy
Park Jae-sang (; born December 31, 1977), better known by his stage name Psy ( ; ), is a South Korean rapper and singer-songwriter, known domestically for his humorous music videos and stage performances and internationally for his hit singl ...
in 2012. Palisades Park High School has hosted national
Kumdo
Kumdo () is a modern Korean martial art derived from kendo, the Japanese discipline of swordsmanship. The name is also romanized as Kŏmdo, Keomdo, Gumdo, and Geomdo.
Kumdo, commonly translated as "the way of the sword," encompasses various swo ...
martial arts tournaments. A
jjimjilbang
''Jjimjilbang'' (; , ) are bathhouses in South Korea which gained popularity in the 1990s.
They are separated by gender and typically have hot tubs, showers, hanjeungmak, Korean traditional kiln saunas, and massage tables. ''Jjimjil'' is derive ...
offers
sauna
A sauna (, ) is a room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is used to meas ...
s and
bibimbap
Bibimbap
* ( ; ), sometimes Romanization of Korean, romanised as bi bim bap or bi bim bop, is a Korean rice dish.
The term ''bibim'' means "mixing" and ''Bap (rice dish), bap'' is cooked rice. It is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped wi ...
in Palisades Park's Koreatown. Approximately 120 Korean stores were counted in Palisades Park in 2000, a number which has risen significantly since then, featuring restaurants and karaoke ('' noraebang'') bars, grocery markets, education centers, book stores,
financial institutions
A financial institution, sometimes called a banking institution, is a business entity that provides service as an intermediary for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial ins ...
boutiques
A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French language, French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek wikt:ἀποθήκη, ἀποθήκη (''apothēkē'') "storehouse ...
, and other commercial enterprises. Koreatown has also grown in and introduced Pocha to the community, which is just another word for a bar, but pochas have a different style.
Signage & dual-naming Broad Avenue
In 1996, an ordinance was passed that storefront signage be same size in English as in Korean. It was one of seven towns in Bergen County to do so.
In mid-2015, a proposal was submitted by the Korean-American Association of Palisades Park to the mayor and council of Palisades Park to add a second name to Broad Avenue, such as "Korean Market Street" () or " Korea Way". The mayor's response was to request a public vote on implementing this addition. As of 2018, it remained controversial.
Monuments and memorials
In 2010, in a public park near the public library a
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...
plaque on a block of stone, was dedicated to the memory of
comfort women
Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term ''comfort women'' is a translation of the Japanese , a euphemism ...
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In May 2012, borough officials in Palisades Park rejected requests by two diplomatic delegations from
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
to remove a small
monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...
from the park. Days later, a
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 delegation endorsed the borough's decision. The first Japanese delegation cited apologies offered by their country's government for its involvement as justifying the removal of the monument, while officials from the second delegation controversially claimed that "comfort women were a lie". In 2017 the monument, the first of its kind in the United States, was relocated to more prominent location. A similar memorial in nearby Hackensack was raised behind the Bergen County Courthouse, alongside memorials to the
Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
, and unveiled in March 2013. An annual cross-country
bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...
ride dedicated to the honor of the comfort women ends at the Palisades Park memorial, following a penultimate stop at the memorial in Hackensack.
A memorial dedicated to the victims of the tragic sinking of the ''Sewol'' ferry off the South Korean coast on April 16, 2014, was unveiled at the public library in May 2014.
Korean language in civic affairs
Ballots are printed with the Korean language since 2012. Jason Kim was serving as deputy mayor of the borough of Palisades Park in May 2012. As of May 2014, Korean Americans had garnered at least four borough council seats in Bergen County. In July 2015, Shawn M. Lee was sworn in as Palisades Park's first Korean-American police sergeant and Gina S. Kim was sworn in as the borough's first municipal clerk, reflecting the growing political influence of the Korean American population in Palisades Park. In November 2015, Palisades Park hired two more Korean-speaking police officers, bringing the total to four. In January 2019, Christopher Chung was sworn in as the first Korean-American mayor of Palisades Park. Korean Americans have attended town meetings in large numbers, requested
Korean language
Korean is the first language, native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Koreans, Korean descent. It is the national language of both South Korea and North Korea. In the south, the language is known as () and in the north, it is kn ...
interpreters to be present at these meetings as of August 2016. In 2019 the town created a Korean language version of its website.