Korean Americans - Definition and Overview

A Korean American is a person of Korean ancestry who was either born in or is an immigrant to the United States.

Although there were earlier immigrants to the U.S., Korean immigration to the U.S. is widely accepted as having begun January 13, 1903, when laborers arrived in Hawaii to work on sugar plantations. More began arriving after the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965.

As of 2000, Korean Americans numbered some 1.1 million, with large concentrations in California, New York, and New Jersey.

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade counted 2,157,498 ethnic Koreans living in the U.S. in 2003.

For some notable Korean Americans, see this list.

See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• Korean adoptee
• Koreans
• Koreatown
• Koreatown, Manhattan
• Asian American
• Demographics of the United States

External links

• The Korean American Museum (http://www.kamuseum.org/)
• Statistics (http://www.geocities.com/mokkim/kafacts.html)
• AsianWeek: Korean American Timeline (http://www.asianweek.com/2003_01_10/feature_timeline.html)