  | |
 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 3,300 (2014) [1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Johannesburg, Cape Town | |
| Languages | |
| South African English, Afrikaans and Korean | |
| Religion | |
| Mostly Christianity, [2] Mahayana Buddhism [3] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Korean diaspora |
Koreans in South Africa form the largest Korean diaspora community on the African continent and the 29th-largest in the world, ahead of Koreans in Spain and behind Koreans in Italy. [4]
South Africa had considered importing labourers from Korea as early as 1903 to control rising mining wages, but eventually decided on Chinese workers instead. [5] The Immigration Act of 1913 classified all Asians as "prohibited immigrants", thus preventing them from settling in the country or conducting commercial activities there. [6] In 1930, when then-Minister of the Interior D. F. Malan made the decision to exclude Japanese from the "prohibited immigrants" category as defined by the 1913 Act, Koreans remained prohibited immigrants, though Jan Smuts angrily protested that the exemption represented a precedent for opening the door to Koreans and Chinese as well. [7] In fact, it came to pass as Smuts predicted: Koreans were removed from the "prohibited immigrants" category in the 1960s. [8]
However, the Korean community in South Africa only really began to take shape after the 1992 establishment of relations between South Korea and South Africa. South Korean companies began sending expatriate employees and their families to the country, and international students found themselves able to enroll in South African universities. A number of independent migrants came as well; they typically set up small businesses in the import/export, hospitality, car repair, and photography sectors. [9]
They are mainly found in the suburbs of Johannesburg.
From 658 people in 1997—19% of all Koreans on the continent and little larger than the Korean community of 589 people in Ghana—their numbers doubled to 1,356 by 2001 and grew again by 155% to 3,452 in 2005, making then 44% of all Koreans in Africa and nearly five times the size of the next-largest community. [10] Most are located in Johannesburg, with a smaller community in Cape Town. South Korean tourists generally choose Cape Town as their primary destination, due to the Table Mountain and other famous natural attractions. [11] By 2011, the Korean population of South Africa had grown another 9% to 4,186. Of South Korean nationals or former nationals in the country, 126 had South African nationality, 1,227 were permanent residents, 954 were international students, and the remaining 1,879 had other types of visas. Most resided in or Gauteng (2,240 people, 54% of all Koreans in the country) or Western Cape (1,800, or 43%). The Korean communities in those two provinces exhibit differing demographic characteristics: the community in Western Cape has a higher proportion of international students, and a sex ratio of 0.75 men for every woman; the community in Gauteng has a higher proportion of permanent residents, and a sex ratio of 1.77 men for every woman. [12]
In 2010, South Korean news reports quoted South Korea's Ministry of Unification as claiming that as many as 1,000 North Korean guestworkers were in South Africa to assist in the construction of stadiums for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, including FNB Stadium (Soccer City). [13] [14] However, in interviews with South African media, project managers at the sites in question denied the reports. [15]
Since the 1990s, many South Koreans have chosen South Africa as a destination for English as a Foreign Language courses. [16] As of 2011, there were 954 South Koreans in South Africa on international student visas, among them 590 in Western Cape province, and 360 in Gauteng province. [12] Not all have just gone to the major cities; for example, Potchefstroom is also one of their major destinations, due to the presence of the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University, and in some cases even whole families have moved there for their children's education. [17] There are several universities with more than 50 Korean students. [18] Aside from English, inexpensive golf lessons are another attraction for Korean international students; a 2004 Yonhap News Agency report estimated that there were roughly 50 South Korean golf students in the country. [19]
In total, more than a quarter of the Korean population in South Africa may consist of students or family members who moved to the country primarily to give their children the opportunity for an English-language education. Basic school costs are higher than those in South Korea, but conversely South Korean expatriates in South Africa can spend less on private cram schools, instead allowing their children to take advantage of a broader range of after-school activities. However, South Korean children who have gone through the more relaxed South African educational system sometimes find it difficult to adjust to the fast pace and high demands of schooling once they return to their native country. [20]
Koreans in South Africa have also established three weekend schools to educate their children in Korean language and culture. The Johannesburg Hangul School was the earliest; it was founded in March 1992 by Jeong Eun-il, who continues to serve as principal. It employed 14 teachers and enrolled 14 kindergarteners, 55 elementary school students, and 13 middle school students. [21] The next school was the Pretoria Hangul School, founded in February 1995 by Choe Jong-o; it shares facilities with the Lynnwood Dutch Reformed Church. It has 8 teachers, 13 kindergarteners, 26 elementary school students, and 7 middle school students. [22] Finally, the Cape Town Hangul School was founded in 2001 by the Mariners' Church (외항선교회). It is the smallest of the three Korean schools, but also the only one with a high school division; it enrols 9 kindergarteners, 12 elementary school students, 3 middle school students, and 6 high school students. [23] There are also some Koreans studying in Rhodes University.
There are eight Korean churches in South Africa, staffed by pastors sent from parent churches in South Korea. Aside from their religious functions, they often serve as community centres for Korean migrants and expatriates. [2] Most are Protestant, but a Korean Catholic Church also opened in Glenferness, Johannesburg in 2009. [24] At the end of 2006, there were 79 South Korean Christian missionary families and 16 individual South Korean missionaries in South Africa totalling 174 people, making up nearly 70% of all South Korean missionaries in southern Africa. Most South Korean churches and organisations began their activities in South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. [25] There are also six Korean Buddhist temples in the country. [3]
Crime in South Africa has not left the Korean community untouched; one widely reported case was the 1999 murder of Kwon Yong-koo, the president of Daewoo Motor South Africa, in the driveway of his home in Johannesburg. He was found there in his car the following morning. However, this was suspected to be a targeted killing rather than a random carjacking attempt. [26] [27] At one point, prosecutors even claimed to have evidence implicating a Zimbabwean businessman with close ties to Robert Mugabe in the killing. [28] In 2007, a Korean woman was found dead in her Cape Town home with her hands and feet bound with rope. [29] No Koreans were victimised during the May 2008 anti-immigrant violence. [30]
In South Africa, Asian usually refers to people of South Asian ancestry, more commonly called Indians. They are largely descended from people who migrated to South Africa in the late 19th and early 20th century from British ruled South Asia.
Potchefstroom, colloquially known as Potch, is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooirivier, roughly 120 km (75 mi) west-southwest of Johannesburg and 45 km (28 mi) east-northeast of Klerksdorp.
Koreans in the Arab world used to form a major part of the worldwide Korean diaspora. Koreans started coming to the Arab world in large numbers in early 1970s as migrant labourers; between 1975 and 1985, 1.1 million Koreans came for work, which made it the third-most popular destination for Korean emigrants. Eventually, most returned home or moved on to other countries, and as of 2014, the South Korean government's own figures showed over 24 thousand of their nationals living in the region. However, South Korean nationals are present in all of the region's countries, and North Korean workers also have a growing presence in several of them.
Koreans in Africa form a very small population, estimated at only 9,200 people in 2005, with almost half of these living in South Africa. South Korean nationals can be found in 49 countries of Africa, including the continent and its surrounding islands; they have established schools in 19 of those countries. They form a small part of the Korean diaspora.
Koreans in France numbered 29,367 individuals as of 2014, making them the 3rd-largest Korean diaspora community in Western Europe, according to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Koreans in Germany numbered 31,248 individuals as of 2009, according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Though they are now only the 14th-largest Korean diaspora community worldwide, they remain the second-largest in Western Europe, behind the rapidly growing community of Koreans in the United Kingdom. As of 2010, Germany has been hosting the second-largest number of Koreans residing in Western Europe, if one excludes Korean sojourners.
Koreans in Argentina 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. 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.
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.
Koreans in Mongolia form one of the Korean diaspora communities in Asia. They consist of both North and South Korean expatriates.
Koreans in the Netherlands form one of the smaller Korean diaspora groups in Europe. As of 2022, 9,469 people of Korean origin lived in the Netherlands.
There is a small Korean community in India, consisting largely of South Korean expatriate professionals and their families, as well as some missionaries and international students at Indian universities.
Johannes "Jan" de Klerk, was a South African politician. He was the father of F. W. de Klerk, the last apartheid State President of South Africa.
Burgersdorp is a medium-sized town in Walter Sisulu in the Joe Gqabi District Municipality of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
There are roughly 948 Koreans in Sri Lanka, according to the 2013 statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade).
Christo Coetzee was a South African assemblage and Neo-Baroque artist closely associated with the avant-garde art movements of Europe and Japan during the 1950s and 1960s. Under the influence of art theorist Michel Tapié, art dealer Rodolphe Stadler and art collector and photographer Anthony Denney, as well as the Gutai group of Japan, he developed his oeuvre alongside those of artists strongly influenced by Tapié's Un Art Autre (1952), such as Georges Mathieu, Alfred Wols, Jean Dubuffet, Jean Fautrier, Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, Antoni Tàpies and Lucio Fontana.
Marco Cianfanelli is a South African artist who has been involved in a wide range of projects involving art, architecture and public spaces. Cianfanelli combines computer-generated, data-driven applications with human, expressive, gestural acts to create tension in his work. Cianfanelli is one of a handful of South African artists whose work successfully spans the public and domestic sphere. He began his career painting landscapes and continues to be concerned with romanticized space and that which is marginalized through the very act of romanticizing. Cianfanelli's slick, pared-down, iconographic recent works are intricately linked with the complexity of loving South Africa.
Potch Gim is a public Afrikaans medium co-educational high School in Potchefstroom, North West, South Africa.
Johannes Christiaan Coetzee was Rector of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education and an academic in education.
The Johannesburg Reformed Church was the first congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) to be founded in Johannesburg on August 14, 1887. All the congregations on the Witwatersrand stem from it, but by the 2010s, the NGK yearbook recorded only 90 in its ward which had long ceased to operate independently.
| Africa |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | ||
| Europe | ||
| See also | ||