Koreans in Germany

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Koreans in Germany
Total population
36,000 (2022)
Mahayana Buddhism,[2] Christianity[3]
Related ethnic groups
Korean diaspora

Koreans in Germany numbered 31,248 individuals as of 2009, according to the statistics of

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.[4]
As of 2010, Germany has been hosting the second-largest number of Koreans residing in Western Europe, if one excludes Korean sojourners (students and general sojourners).

The largest community of Koreans is situated in the

Frankfurt-Rhine Main Area, with 5,300 residents. This area also contains German and European headquarters of large Korean companies such as Kia Motors, Hyundai, Samsung Electronics, LG International, SK Group, Nexen Tire
.

History

South Koreans

Kim Yu-taik, Chief of Economic Plannig Board addresses workers to be dispatched to Germany from South Korea. 1962-08-16.
Distribution of South Korean citizens in districts of Germany in 2021

Some students, nurses, and industrial trainees from

like Germany, had been divided by ideology.[6] The first group of miners arrived on 16 December 1963, under a programme paid for largely by the South Korean government; German enterprises were not responsible for travel costs, but only for wages and language training. They had high levels of education compared with other Gastarbeiter of the same era; over 60% had completed high school or tertiary education. Nurses began arriving in large numbers in 1966.[5] Koreans were one of the few non-European groups recruited; West German migration policy generally excluded workers of African and Asian origin during the 1950s through 1970s.[7] After living in Germany, some Koreans migrated onwards to the United States under the relaxed entrance standards of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.[8] Though the South Korean workers came on limited-term contracts and most initially planned to return home, in the end, half of the workers enlisted ended up remaining in Germany. Throughout the 1970s, they staged protests demanding the right to stay, citing their contributions to the economy and health care system; in the end, the West German government refrained from expelling those whose work contracts had expired, instead letting them move on to other work.[5][7]

assassination attempt on Park Chung-hee and the USS Pueblo incident, and instead worked quietly to ensure the release of those who had been kidnapped.[11]

There has been a movement among South Korean miners in Germany in 2011 to let the South Korean government officially recognize their patriotic effort.[12]

North Koreans

1953: North Korean guest students arrive in East-Berlin
Distribution of North Korean citizens in districts of Germany in 2021

There was also a Korean presence in

Soviet bloc, and others came as industrial trainees.[13] In 1955, their numbers in East Germany were estimated at 334 students, 302 industrial trainees, and 298 orphans. However, as the Sino-Soviet split worsened, the North Korean government ordered nearly all of their overseas nationals to return home, and by 1962, few North Koreans were left in Germany. Even those who married locals obeyed the recall order and left their spouses behind; in one case, an East German woman was able to confirm that her North Korean husband was still alive after more than four decades without contact, but others have never seen or heard any information about their spouses since.[14][15]

In the 1980s, relations between North Korea and East Germany improved again, and about 1,500 North Korean students came to East Germany.[16] Even after the German reunification, the Pyongyang government continued to send some students to Germany for technical training; the two countries established formal diplomatic relations in March 2001, and Germans working in North Korea have reported meeting German-speaking engineers and technicians.[17]

Return migration

Some Koreans settled in Germany have begun returning to South Korea after retirement, bringing German spouses with them; this return migration has resulted in the creation of the Namhae German Village in South Gyeongsang Province.[18]

Education

Over 70% of second-generation Korean descendants in Germany hold at least an

Freiburg, Siegen, and Rimpar in the 1990s. As of 2007, total enrollment in all Korean schools across Germany was 1,748 students.[19]

Notable people

Main category: German people of Korean descent

References

  1. ^ "Germany and the Republic of Korea (South Korea): Bilateral relations". auswaertiges-amt.de. April 4, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
  2. ^ "Korean Buddhist organisations in Germany". World Buddhist Directory. Buddha Dharma Education Association. 2006. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
  3. ^ Cyrus, Norbert (March 2005). "Active Civic Participation of Immigrants in Germany" (PDF). Building Europe with New Citizens? An Inquiry into the Civic Participation of Naturalised Citizens and Foreign Residents in 25 Countries. European Commission. p. 36. Retrieved 9 March 2009.; cites Yoo 1996, listed below
  4. ^ "재외동포현황/Current Status of Overseas Compatriots". South Korea: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 2009. Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d Choi, Sun-Ju; Lee, You-Jae (January 2006). "Umgekehrte Entwicklungshilfe - Die koreanische Arbeitsmigration in Deutschland (Reverse Development Assistance - Korean labour migration in Germany)" (PDF) (in German). Seoul: Goethe Institute.
  6. ^ Creutzenberg, Jan (22 May 2007). "Two Stories of Exploitation and Integration: Double lecture on Korean and Vietnamese work migration in Germany". OhmyNews. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  7. ^
    S2CID 145300975
    .
  8. ^ Kang, Tai S. (March 1990). "An ethnography of Koreans in Queens, New York, and elsewhere in the United States" (PDF). Ethnographic Exploratory Research Report #8. Center for Survey Methods Research, Bureau of the Census. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  9. The Dong-a Ilbo. Archived from the original
    on 10 March 2005. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  10. ISBN 978-0393327021
    .
  11. ^ a b Gil, Yun-hyeong (30 October 2004). "독일, 당시 국교단절 검토: 67년 윤이상씨등 서울로 납치 '동백림사건' 항의 (Germany considered breaking off relations at the time: Protests over the 1967 "East Berlin incident" kidnapping of Isang Yun and others)". The Hankyoreh. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  12. ^ Wang (왕), Gil-hwan (길환) (14 April 2011). 파독광부들 "국가유공자로 인정해 달라". Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  13. S2CID 154999855
    .
  14. ISBN 978-3-8265-5472-8
    .
  15. ^ Ryu, Kwon-ha (13 February 2007). "North Korean husband of German woman is alive". JoongAng Ilbo. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  16. ^ Green, Chris (31 May 2011). "An Anti-Reform Marriage of Convenience". Daily NK. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
  17. ^ Pak, Sung-jo (11 March 2001). "Germany Gets Maximum Concessions from NK". The Chosun Ilbo. Archived from the original on 14 June 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  18. ^ Onishi, Norimitsu (9 August 2005). "In a Corner of South Korea, a Taste of German Living". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  19. ^ "Overseas Korean Educational Institutions: Germany". National Institute for International Education Development, Republic of Korea. 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  20. JSTOR 1004366. Archived from the original
    on 5 April 2005.
  21. ^ Harden, Blaine (22 February 2010). "A family and a conscience, destroyed by North Korea's cruelty". Washington Post. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  22. ISSN 1557-4660. Archived from the original
    on 2 June 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2007.

Works cited

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Koreans_in_Germany&oldid=1210796650"