Korea and Taiwan: Tigers Rising - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 373

About a third of America' s Koreans live in Cali-
fornia, mainly in the Los Angeles area. Other signif-
icant concentrations are in New Y ork and Chicago.

Overseas Koreans

More than 5 million Koreans live overseas. The
largest group resides in China. As many as 2 million
live in China' s Manchurian region. The strongest
concentration is in Yanbian Korean Autonomous
Prefecture just north of the T Tumen River. Here,
Koreans are able to exercise a degree of autonomy
and speak Korean in accordance with the rights
given to all minority nationalities in China.
Koreans were pioneers in opening up the cold
Manchurian region to paddy rice farming. Rice
was first grown in Yanbian in 1877, and Koreans
are still responsible for producing much of the
rice crop in the most northerly province of
Heilungjiang.
Large contingents of Koreans also live in the
Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbek-
istan and on Sakhalin off the east coast of Siberia.
Unofficial estimates range up to 750,000. These
populations are important links for South Korea' s
recent Central Asian investments.
As discussed earlier, the Korean community in
Japan makes up 85 percent of its foreign popula-
tion. Regarded as citizens of the Japanese empire
during colonial times, the majority of Koreans con-
tinue to be classified as aliens and suffer from vari-
ous forms of discrimination.
Emigration to the United States began in the
early twentieth century . From 1903 to 1905 a group
of 7,226 Koreans was allowed to live in Hawaii and
work on sugar plantations. Under Japanese pres-
sure, this migration was stopped and many Korean
settlers abandoned the plantations and became
shopkeepers. Some 2,000 moved to California. This
was the seed of a subsequent migration stream to
the United States.
The number of Koreans living in the United
States has increased from 38,711 in 1970 to more
than a million today . Korean-Americans are the sev-
enth largest immigrant group in the country . Over
half live in just four states: California, New Y ork,
New Jersey , and Virginia.
The majority of Koreans living outside the coun-
try are Christian. Christians comprise 20 percent of
the Korean population. Most westerners don't real-
ize that Korea is home to the world' is five largest
mega-churches.

THE UNITED STATES AND SOUTH KOREA
For the past 50 years, South Korea' s foreign policy has
been in virtual lock-step with that of the United States.
However, in 2002 when President Roh Moo-hyun was
elected, he said that his country would no longer “ kowtow ”
to the United States.
There has been a wave of nationalism in South Korea
triggered by the acquittal of two American soldiers
charged in the deaths of two girls killed during a training
exercise. “Wrongs will be righted,” declared President
Roh as he referred to grievances associated with the bilat-
eral treaty that governs the 37,000 American troops sta-
tioned in his country . Even North Korea has criticized
the treaty because, in essence, it gives extraterritorial
rights to the soldiers. In other words, American troops
are subject to American and not South Korean laws.
As the relationship between the two countries has
changed, the United States has taken steps to downplay
its profile. It is closing a large military base in Seoul and
has pulled back its troops from the DMZ. However,
troops are being maintained in other locations. South
Korean conservatives are not happy with these moves as
they feel vulnerable to attack from North Korea. More-
over, they do not want to pay for the moves. Only time
will tell the ramifications of this situation.
More recently , South Korea has drawn closer to the
United States. At the London G-20 Summit in 2009,
President Obama called the country: “one of America' s
closest allies and greatest friends.” The G-20 is a group of
20 countries representing some of the world' s leading
economies. China, Japan, Australia, South Africa,
France, and Saudi Arabia are among the 20. The summits
are designed to share ideas on global economic and
financial issues.

PROSPECTS FOR REUNIFICATION
North and South Korea have entered the twenty-first
century as two diametrically opposed systems with di-
vergent paths of development. Both Koreas remain
pledged to reunification and occasionally present pro-
posals. A strong emotional commitment to reunification
exists among many Koreans, especially those with cross-
border family ties (Figure 13-10).