Koreans in Chile (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: ''Coreanos en Chile'') (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

: ''칠레 한국인'') formed

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

's sixth-largest

Korean diaspora The Korean diaspora (South Korea: or , North Korea: or ) consists of around 7.3 million people, both descendants of early emigrants from the Korean Peninsula, as well as more recent emigres from Korea. Around 84.5% of overseas Koreans live in ...

community , according to the statistics of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade may refer to: * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (Jamaica) * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (New Zealand) * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (South Korea) South Korea's Ministry of ...

Migration history

The earliest Korean migrants to Chile were soldiers of the

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

n army captured by

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

forces, who declined repatriation after the signing of the

Korean Armistice Agreement The Korean Armistice Agreement ( ko, 한국정전협정 / 조선정전협정; zh, t=韓國停戰協定 / 朝鮮停戰協定) is an armistice that brought about a complete cessation of hostilities of the Korean War. It was signed by United Sta ...

and came to Chile under the auspices of the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. They were resettled in the city of

Temuco Temuco () is a city and commune, capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago. The city grew out from a fort of the same name established in 1881 during Chile's invasion ...

. Immigration from

to Chile would not begin until 1970, when five families came to work in the

floriculture Floriculture, or flower farming, is a branch of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry. The development of new varieties by plant breeding is ...

sector. Three more families came by way of

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

in 1975 and another ten in 1976. By 1978, the year of the founding of the Asociación Coreana de Chile, there were between twenty and thirty Korean families residing in Chile. In 1978, twenty Korean families founded a school, the Colegio Coreano, with the assistances of the Presbyterian Church to offer weekend courses in Korean language, culture and history to Korean children in Chile. Most of the families immigrating in those days actually had

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

as their final destination, and intended to reside in Chile only as long as it took them to obtain an Argentine visa, but as Argentina required prospective immigrants to have at least

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

30,000 in capital, many found themselves unable to qualify; they instead settled in Chile, where the requirement was merely one-sixth that amount. Many settled in the

Barrio Patronato Barrio Patronato (''Patronato Neighborhood'') is a traditional neighborhood in Recoleta, Santiago, Chile. It is bounded by Avenida Recoleta from the west, Bellavista Street from the south, Loreto Street from the east, and Dominica street from the ...

, a traditionally immigrant-dominated neighbourhood then filled largely with Arabs. They started out in the textile manufacturing sector, but along with Chile's shift away from an

import substitution Import substitution industrialization (ISI) is a trade and economic policy that advocates replacing foreign imports with domestic production.''A Comprehensive Dictionary of Economics'' p.88, ed. Nelson Brian 2009. It is based on the premise that ...

-oriented economic model, they turned to opening shops and importing clothing and other products from their homeland instead. Between 1997 and 2005, the Korean population of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

grew by one-quarter, from 1,470 to 1,858 individuals, surpassing in size the community of

Koreans in Peru Koreans in Peru ( es, coreanos en Perú; ) formed Latin America's seventh-largest Korean diaspora community , according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. They are relatively small in size compared to the ot ...

. Afterwards, the population continued to grow, to 2,510 by 2011. South Korean governments showed a total of 48 ethnic Koreans with Chilean nationality, 2,366 with permanent residency, seven

international student International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

s, and 119 with other types of visas.

Inter-ethnic relations

Koreans in Chile are respected by Chileans of other backgrounds for their work ethic, but are perceived as a very closed community, especially with regards to

interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 19 ...

. The Korean shops of Patronato are well known for their low prices and diverse products but some Chileans and competitors feel some envy towards the commercial success of Koreans in their country. At the same time, however, Chileans have respect for the rapid economic development undertaken by South Korea. On the other hand, Koreans in Chile often perceive Chileans as superficial in their friendships, lazy, irresponsible, and somewhat racist.

Religion

Among the Korean community in Chile,

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

is the majority religion; Patronato has two

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

churches and one

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

one. Many Korean migrants to Chile were not Christians at the time of their arrival, but became churchgoers in order to take part in the specifically Korean social life offered by the churches, which offered them comfort and reminders of home after the stressful experience of migration to a foreign country.

Footnotes

References

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Migration history

Inter-ethnic relations

Religion

Footnotes

References

Further reading