Koreans in Argentina

Last updated • 9 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Korean Argentines
한국 아르헨티나 (Korean)
Coreano-argentinos (Spanish)
Flag of Argentina.svg Flag of South Korea.svg Flag of North Korea.svg
Patio Gastronomico (6834065776).jpg
Korean Argentines at the Korean stand of the 2012 Gastronomic Patio held in Buenos Aires
Total population
9,579 (by birth, 2023) [1]
23,089 (total of Korean citizens + Argentine citizens, 2023) [2]
Regions with significant populations
Buenos Aires, especially Flores and Balvanera (formerly known as Once) [3]
Languages
Spanish  · Korean (minority)
Religion
Majority: Protestantism
Minority: Catholicism and Buddhism [4]
Related ethnic groups
Koreans  · Korean Americans  · Korean Brazilians  · Korean Uruguayans

Koreans in Argentina (also known as Argentine Koreans or Korean Argentines) form the second-largest Korean diaspora community in South America and the 16th largest in the world, according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Their population declined by more than 50% between 1997 and 2003. Despite the small rebound in their numbers since then, they have been surpassed in size by the rapidly growing Chinese Argentine community (which since the 1990s has been increasing non-stop and is expected to become one of the biggest immigrant groups in Argentina, together with Paraguayan, Bolivian and Peruvian immigrants). In the 2010s decade, the Korean community in Argentina has fallen behind Korean communities in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, The United Arab Emirates, and Southeast Asia. [5] [6]

Contents

Nevertheless, the relevance of the community and especially its weight among the Korean communities has been hailed on more than one occasion. For example, the Centro Cultural Coreano-Argentino (Korean-Argentine Cultural Center) was created with its headquarters precisely in Argentina. [7]

Migration history

Beginnings

Records still exist that show the presence of a few Koreans in Argentina as early as 1940, when Korea was still a Japanese colony. [8] However, the first well-known Korean migrants to Argentina were twelve North Korean prisoners of the Korean War who declined the repatriation offered them under the terms of the Korean Armistice Agreement and chose instead to start a new life on another continent; they were finally resettled in Argentina in 1956 and 1957 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. [9]

South Koreans first came to Argentina in the 1960s, under an intergovernmental agreement between the two countries. The first ones began arriving in 1962 as re-migrants from among the communities of Koreans in Paraguay and Koreans in Chile. [10] However, the date most often identified as the start of Korean migration to Argentina is 14 October 1965, when a group of thirteen families from Busan arrived by ship in Buenos Aires en route to Choele Choel in Río Negro Province. [9] [11] Between 1970 and 1978, five hundred more families, totalling 2,800 individuals, arrived in Argentina, with the Argentine government specifically intending them to settle in less-developed rural areas of Argentina. They were supposed to have agricultural experience in Korea; however, few actually did. [10] Due to the lack of economic infrastructure and employment opportunities in those regions, they resettled in urban centres. [12]

Mass migration and re-migration

The largest and most noticeable influx of Korean immigrants to Argentina began in the 1980s. [13] The total number of migrants between 1965 and 1985 only amounted to roughly 6,000 but began to increase sharply after that. [14] By that time, South Korea was a modern and industrialised country, but the sharp recession provided a significant push factor for overseas migration; the signing of the Acto de Procedimiento between the Argentine and South Korean governments that year established and outlet for that migration. [10] Obtaining residency was not cheap; businesspeople who sought to establish themselves and obtain a residency permit had to invest US$100,000. [13] The population peaked at an estimated 50,000 individuals in 1996. [14] [ failed verification ]

In the late 1990s, migration largely came to a halt, and the size of the community began to decrease; there were a few cases of new migrants who came for family reunification , and some others were deported from the country, but the largest cause of the diminution of the community was re- migration, largely to Canada and the United States. [10] The most common destination in the U.S., not just for Koreans but for others leaving Argentina, was Miami, Florida, already home to a thriving pan-Latino community. Due to their multilingual skills and business experience, Koreans typically fared better in the job market than other emigrants from Argentina. [15] The push for emigration was amplified with the onset of the 1999 Argentine economic crisis. [16] After reaching a nadir of 15,500 individuals in 2003, the population recovered to 19,171 in 2005 and then 22,024 in 2009. [6] [17] The Korean population remained roughly stable at 22,354 people in 2011; among these, 7,420 were Argentine nationals, 14,340 had permanent residency, four were international students, and 590 had other types of visas. Almost 90% (19,864 people) were recorded as living in Buenos Aires or its vicinity. [5]

Employment

Many of the Korean immigrants who arrived in the 1980s possessed professional qualifications in fields as diverse as pharmacy, accounting, and history; however, due to the language barrier, and also the desire to get the maximum return from the capital they had invested in Argentina, they went into small businesses in which all members of the family could contribute their labour. [18] Textile importation and clothing manufacturing was a widespread choice. [19] Korean business owners took advantage of intra-ethnic networks both to find additional labourers, and also to gain access to further capital, in the form of rotating credit associations. [20] In the 1990s, members of the locally educated 1.5 and second generations moved away from small business and again branched out into the professions which their parents had abandoned, typically medicine, fashion design, and architecture. [3]

Inter-ethnic relations

Koreans in Argentina are better-integrated with the local population than Koreans in Paraguay, but less so than Korean Brazilians. [21] Argentines initially perceived Koreans as hard-working, intelligent, and honest, but their image took a turn for the worse in the 1980s, precisely as more began arriving in the countryinstead, they came to be viewed as exploiters and opportunists. [18] Koreans' entry into the textile industry provided ample fuel for ethnic friction as they outcompeted their co-industrialists through hard work, consisting of twelve- to fourteen-hour days, and use of cheap labour, limited not just to family members but, in some publicized cases, illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bolivia as well. Xenophobic news reports falsely accused them of stealing electricity from power companies, thus cementing in the public mind the idea that the Korean immigrants thrived at the expense of the rest of Argentina. Since Argentina has a rigid class stratification system and their popular national identity is based on an exclusive European racial representation, Koreans inevitably stirred resentment towards their presence. [22]

Children of Korean immigrants also had a difficult time getting accepted as Argentines due to their parents' poor command of the Spanish language, different food, and different customs such as taking off ones' shoes at the front door of the house. In a process common to ethnic minorities in all societies, the second generation conceived the values of the mainstream to be universal, while placing less worth on those of their ancestral culture. [18] In response to their exclusion from the identity of "Argentine", youth of Korean descent often cling to a purely local identity, such as "Porteño" (used to refer to people from Buenos Aires), thus avoiding the need to categorise themselves by ethnicity or nationality. Ethnic Korean women are often fetishised by Argentine men. [23]

In many cases, it is not until they go overseas, especially to the United States, that ethnic Koreans who grew up in Argentina are accepted as full Argentines; their Argentine accent functions as a marker of distinction and identity in the diverse Spanish-speaking community there. [15]

Culture

Language

Most Koreans in Argentina speak both Korean and Spanish, with varying degrees of proficiency. [15] Argentina has five community-operated weekend schools which teach the Korean language as a heritage language to locally born ethnic Korean youth. [24] In recent years, the schools have shifted towards offering cultural activities aimed at the mainstream, such as Korean language courses. [25] Among youth, proficiency in the Korean language is an important marker of community belonging; those who never learned it well in childhood are often inspired by Korean cinema and Korean television dramas to study it more fully. [26]

Religion

The majority of the Koreans in Argentina are Protestant, while small minorities follow Buddhism or the Roman Catholic faith of the mainstream. [4] The country boasts a total of thirty Korean Protestant churches. [14] The earliest ones, the Iglesia Unión Coreana en Argentina and the Iglesia Chae-Ilnow one of the largestwere founded in 1966 and 1967, respectively. [27] The one described as "most representative" of the population is the Misión Chung Ang (also known as the Iglesia Central), a Presbyterian church established in 1972. Korean churches were some of the first ethnic-specific churches in Argentina; however, despite their important function in maintaining Korean identity and culture among the immigrants and their children, they have not restricted themselves solely to the Korean communityfor example, Chung Ang conduct missionary work in the poorer and more marginalised communities of the interior, especially in Misiones. [4]

K-Pop

In recent years, many Argentine youth have become interested in Korean culture due to the rise of K-pop. The Korean Cultural Center in Buenos Aires sponsors the largest K-pop festival in Argentina and it attracts thousands of participants every year. In 2017, participants arrived from 16 different countries in Latin America. [28]

Other traditions

Korean martial arts remain widely practised among the Korean community of Argentina, and have also made significant inroads in the rest of society. In addition to taekwondo , which has a following in numerous countries, the globally less-common shippalgi is quite well known in Argentina, practised actively by more than 70,000 people. Its growth largely resulted from the 1970 immigration to Argentina of Yoo Soo-nam, one of the world's foremost masters in the art. The efforts of Yoo, who taught shippalgi at the Colegio Militar de Campo de Mayo from 1971 until 1980, resulted in its adoption by the Special Operations Group of the Federal Police. [29]

Argentine asado (grilled meat) is popular among Koreans just as among other communities, but they typically eat it with kimchi as a side dish rather than the more common salads or French fries. [23]

In 2005, the Club Deportivo Coreano (Korean Sports Club) was founded in Lobos, Buenos Aires which plays Football, this is quite common with immigrant communities in Argentina, since the Spanish, Italian and Armenian communities already had clubs of their own. They play in the fifth division league, Torneo Argentino C.

The Kim Yun Shin Museum of Fine Arts, Argentina's first art museum of Korean motif, opened its doors on 8 December 2008. The institution, located at 2945 Felipe Vallese St. in the Floresta District, was created on the initiative of Kim Yun Shin, a South Korean painter who graduated from Seoul's Hongik University and has resided in Buenos Aires since 1984. [30]

Education

Instituto Coreano Argentino Instituto Coreano Argentino, Barrio Coreano, febrero de 2018 02.jpg
Instituto Coreano Argentino

Instituto Coreano Argentino, a South Korean international school, is in Buenos Aires. [31]

Cenotaph

A cenotaph honoring the first arrival of korean immigrants in argentina stands in LaMarque. [32]

Notable individuals

See also

Related Research Articles

Asian Latin Americans are Latin Americans of Asian descent. Asian immigrants to Latin America have largely been from East Asia or West Asia. Historically, Asians in Latin America have a centuries-long history in the region, starting with Filipinos in the 16th century. The peak of Asian immigration occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries. There are currently more than four million Asian Latin Americans, nearly 1% of Latin America's population. Chinese, Japanese, and Lebanese are the largest Asian ancestries; other major ethnic groups include Filipinos, Syrians, Koreans and Indians, many of whom are Indo-Caribbean and came from neighboring countries in the Caribbean and the Guianas. Brazil is home to the largest population of East Asian descent, estimated at 2.08 million. The country is also home to a large percentage of West Asian descendants. With as much as 5% of their population having some degree of Chinese ancestry, Peru and Mexico have the highest ratio of any country for East Asian descent. Though the most recent official census, which relied on self-identification, gave a much lower percentage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asian Argentines</span> Ethnic group

Asian Argentines, are Argentine citizens or residents of Asian ancestry. The vast majority trace their ancestry to West Asia, primarily from Lebanon and Syria, and East Asia, from China and Japan. However, there are other communities of South Asian or Southeast Asian origin as well. Asian Argentines settled in Argentina in large numbers during several waves of immigration in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oberá</span> City in Misiones, Argentina

Oberá, formerly Svea, is a city in the interfluvial province of Misiones, Argentina, and the head town of the Oberá Department. It is located 96 km east of the provincial capital Posadas, on National Route 14, and about 1,150 km north of Buenos Aires. It has 63,960 inhabitants according to the 2010 census [INDEC].

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration to Argentina</span>

The history of immigration to Argentina can be divided into several major stages:

Irish Argentines are Argentine citizens who are fully or partially of Irish descent. Irish emigrants from the Midlands, Wexford and many counties of Ireland arrived in Argentina mainly from 1830 to 1930, with the largest wave taking place in 1850–1870. The modern Irish-Argentine community is composed of some of their descendants, and the total number is estimated at between 500,000 and 1,000,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnic groups of Argentina</span>

Argentina has a racially and ethnically diverse population. The territory of what today is Argentina was first inhabited by numerous indigenous peoples. The first white settlers came during the period of Spanish colonization, beginning in the 16th century. The Spaniards imported African slaves, who would go on to become the first Afro-Argentines. Following independence from Spain in the 19th century and well into the 20th century, numerous migration waves took place, with Argentina being the second most popular destination for migrants in the early 20th century, after the United States. Most of these migrants came from Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Koreans in Mexico</span> Ethnic group

Korean immigration to Mexico began in 1905. The first Korean migrant workers settled in Yucatán, while more recent migrants from South Korea often choose Mexico City as their destination. However, according to the embassy, it's estimated that 11,800 Korean nationals living in Mexico and 1,000,000 Mexicans of Korean descent.

Koreans in Peru formed Latin America's seventh-largest Korean diaspora community as of 2011, according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. They are relatively small in size compared to the other Asian communities in Peru.

Koreans in Chile formed Latin America's sixth-largest Korean diaspora community as of 2011, according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Koreans in Guatemala form one of the newest and fastest-growing Korean diaspora communities in Latin America.

Koreans in Paraguay formed one of the earliest Korean diaspora communities in Latin America. However, they were always overshadowed by the larger Korean communities in neighbouring Brazil and Argentina and since the late 1990s, their population has fallen significantly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French Argentines</span> Argentines of French birth or descent

French Argentines refers to Argentine citizens of full or partial French ancestry or persons born in France who reside in Argentina. French Argentines form one of the largest ancestry groups after Italian Argentines and Spanish Argentines. Between 1857 and 1946, 261,020 French people immigrated to Argentina. Besides immigration from continental France, Argentina also received, as early as the 1840s, immigrants with French background from neighboring countries, notably Uruguay, which expanded the French Argentine community., it was estimated that around 8 million Argentines had some degree of French ancestry, up to 17% of the total population.

Russian Argentines are people from Russia living in Argentina, and their Argentine-born descendants. The estimates of the number of Argentines of Russian descent vary between 170,000 and 350,000. They are mostly living in Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argentines</span> People of the country of Argentina or who identify as culturally Argentine

Argentines are the people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Argentine. In the past the National Gentilic for Citizens of Argentina was mistakenly translated as Argentinians, a term that is no longer considered accurate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argentines of European descent</span> Ethnic group

European Argentines, are Argentines who have predominantly or total European ancestry, belong to several communities which trace their origins to various migrations from Europe and which have contributed to the country's cultural and demographic variety. They are the descendants of colonists from Spain during the colonial period prior to 1810, or in the majority of cases, of Spanish, Italians, French, Russians and other Europeans who arrived in the great immigration wave from the mid 19th to the mid 20th centuries, and who largely intermarried among their many nationalities during and after this wave. No recent Argentine census has included comprehensive questions on ethnicity, although numerous studies have determined that European Argentines have been a majority in the country since 1914.

Portuguese Argentines are Argentines of Portuguese descent or a Portugal-born person who resides in Argentina. Portuguese Argentines are one of the biggest portugueses communities in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese Argentines</span> Ethnic group

Japanese Argentines, are Argentine citizens of Japanese ancestry, comprising Japanese immigrants and their descendants born in Argentina. Japanese migration to Argentina began in 1908 with the arrival of immigrants from Okinawa and Kagoshima. The first Japanese entered the country via Brazil and succeeding groups of immigrants tended to reach Argentina through the neighboring nations. In the pre-war years, Japanese Argentines were concentrated in urban small businesses, especially dry cleaning and cafes in Buenos Aires, while some worked as domestic servants, factory workers and longshoremen. A minority of Japanese Argentines also engaged in horticulture, floriculture and fishery. There is an important Japanese community in the city of Belén de Escobar where they settled and specialised in floriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Korea–Uruguay relations</span> Bilateral relations

Foreign relations between the Republic of Korea and Uruguay were established in 1964. South Korea has an embassy in Montevideo. Uruguay has an embassy in Seoul.

At the 2011 census, the number of immigrants in Costa Rica totaled about 390,000 individuals, or about 9% of the country's population. Following a considerable drop from 1950 through 1980, immigration to Costa Rica has increased in recent decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Instituto Coreano Argentino</span> Primary school in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Instituto Coreano Argentino is a Korean international school in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It serves the preschool and elementary school levels. In 2010 it had 29 teachers, 184 day kindergarten students, and 155 day elementary students. Its weekend school that year had 207 students. There are two principals, one each appointed by the Ministry of Education of Argentina and the Ministry of Education of South Korea.

References

Notes

  1. "Datos sociodemográficos por país de nacimiento". RENAPER - Dirección Nacional de Población. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  2. 재외동포현황2023. South Korea: Overseas Koreans Agency. 2023. pp. 34, 179. Archived from the original on 2024-09-07. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
    • web page that links to the PDF: 재외동포 현황. South Korea: Overseas Koreans Agency. 2023. press download button "재외동포현황(2023년)". Archived from the original on 2024-09-07. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  3. 1 2 Bialogorski 2005b, p. 3.
  4. 1 2 3 Bialogorski 2005a, p. 279.
  5. 1 2 재외동포 본문(지역별 상세), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2011-07-15, p. 172, archived from the original on 2012-05-26, retrieved 2012-02-25
  6. 1 2 재외동포현황 - 중남미 [Status of overseas compatriots - Central/South America], Overseas Korean Foundation, 2005, archived from the original on 2009-04-14, retrieved 2008-09-27
  7. "Palabras del Director". argentina.korean-culture.org.
  8. Bialogorski 2005a , p. 277
  9. 1 2 Bialogorski 2005a , p. 278.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Mera 2001 , p. 2
  11. Mera 2006 , p. 4.
  12. Maldonado-Salcedo 2007.
  13. 1 2 Bialogorski 2005a , p. 280
  14. 1 2 3 Migration Dialogue 1996
  15. 1 2 3 Maldonado-Salcedo 2007
  16. Bialogorski 2005a , p. 282
  17. 재외동포현황 [Current Status of Overseas Compatriots], South Korea: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2009, archived from the original on 2010-10-23, retrieved 2009-05-21
  18. 1 2 3 Mera 2001 , p. 7.
  19. Bialogorski 2005a , p. 281
  20. Bialogorski 2005a , p. 284.
  21. Mera 2006 , p. 7.
  22. Maldonado-Salcedo 2007.
  23. 1 2 Maldonado-Salcedo 2007.
  24. "Korean language school: South America", Overseas Korean Educational Institutions, South Korea: National Institute for International Education Development, 2002, retrieved 2008-10-25
  25. Bialogorski 2005b , p. 4.
  26. Courtis 2005 , pp. 143–144.,
  27. Mera 2001 , p. 3
  28. "El universo conceptual del K-pop latino invade Buenos Airesh". 2017-06-10. Archived from the original on 2017-06-10. Retrieved 2017-06-10.
  29. Bialogorski 2005a , p. 289.
  30. "Abrió sus puertas el nuevo museo de arte coreano", TELAM, 2008-12-08, archived from the original on 2011-05-31, retrieved 2008-12-10
  31. Home. Instituto Coreano Argentino. Retrieved on 2015-09-21. "Asamblea 1840 CIudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires Argentina CP C1406HVU".
  32. "한국이민최초정착비". Encyclopedia of Korean Culture .
  33. "DiCaprio Who? The Other Leo". UCLA International Institute. 2004-08-20. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  34. Scanarotti, María Noel (2012-10-25). "El 'Chino' de Graduados, una revelación impensada". Clarin. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  35. "Conocé a Chang Sung Kim, el 'chino' de Graduados: 'Soy más argentino que el dulce de leche'" [Meet Chang Sung Kim, the 'Chinese guy' from Graduados: 'I'm more Argentine than a dulce de leche']. Ciudad. 2012-09-08. Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  36. "정원·수영장이…" K팝스타 박제형 대저택 공개 (in Korean). 2012-03-27.

Sources

Further reading