Nepalese in South Korea comprise Korean Citizens and Nepalese migrant workers, including temporary expatriates and permanent residents, as well as their locally born descendants of either

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 ** ...

or Nepalese nationality. The Nepalese in South Korea are mainly of four distinct ethnic groups : Bahun (Brahmins), Chhetri (Rajputs), Madhesis and Janjatis.

Migration history

The first wave of Nepalese immigration began in the late 1980s. After Nepal restored its democracy in the 1990s, labour laws were changed to allow Nepalese youths to go abroad in search of work. The Nepalese community in South Korea thus consists primarily of migrant workers, but also has large numbers of students as well as Nepalese women married to South Korean men they met through international matchmaking agencies. The Nepali government are attempting to induce Nepali workers staying illegally in South Korea (roughly 2,500 ) to return home, in hopes that the South Korean government will increase its intake of Nepali workers in future years.

Culture

The Nepalese community managed to keep their traditions alive while living in South Korea. Nepalese festivals such as Tihar,

Dasain Dashain or Bada'dashain, also referred as Bijaya Dashami in Sanskrit, is a major Hindu religious festival in Nepal. It is also celebrated by Hindus of Nepal and elsewhere in the world, including among the Lhotshampa of Bhutan and the Burmese Gur ...

and

Teej Teej ( ne, तीज, Tīja, translit-std=ISO) is the generic name for a number of Hindu festivals that are celebrated by women and girls. and welcome the monsoon season and are celebrated primarily by girls and women, with singing, dancing, ...

are celebrated throughout the country.

Organisations

The Non-Resident Nepali Association of Korea is one organisation for Nepalese people living in South Korea. In 2010, they opened a shelter in

Dongdaemun-gu Dongdaemun District (, "Great Eastern Gate") is one of the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. Dongdaemun has a population of 346,770 (2010) and has a geographic area of 14.22 km2 (5.49 sq mi), and is divided into 14 '' dong'' (administrative ne ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

to provide charitable assistance for Nepalese who become unemployed or otherwise face difficulties. Another organisation, aimed specifically at

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, is the Society of Nepalese Students in Korea (SONSIK), established in 2004. South Korea's multilingual Migrant Workers' Television was founded by Nepali migrant worker Minod Moktan (Minu), a human rights activist who lived in South Korea for nearly 18 years before being deported in October 2009.

References

External links

Society of Nepalese Students in KoreaNon-Resident Nepalese Association of KoreaMigrant Workers' Television

Nepalese Migrant Workers in Korea
2005 M.A. project by Sirjana Gautam Bhattarai, Chonbuk National University {{Immigrants and expatriates in Korea Demographics of South Korea

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...