Koreans in France

Korean migration to France began in 1919, when the government of France issued work permits to 35 Korean migrant labourers.{{harvnb|Lee|2006}} From a community of just 3,310 in 1988, their numbers more than tripled by 2000, and then grew a further 30% by 2007.{{harvnb|Lee-Le Neindre|2001|p=1}}{{harvnb|MOFAT|2009}} However, from 2009 to 2011, their population shrank by 14%. The vast majority live in Paris — about two-thirds, according to 2011 data, compared with four-fifths a decade before — with the largest concentrations in the 15th arrondissement. There are more than twice as many women as men; the population has grown more gender-imbalanced as compared to a decade prior.{{harvnb|Lee-Le Neindre|2001|p=2}} Unlike in the United States or Canada, with their large Korean American and Korean Canadian communities, few Koreans in France seek to naturalise as French citizens.{{harvnb|Lee-Le Neindre|2001|p=5}} Among all South Korean nationals or former nationals in France, 786 (6%) have become French citizens, 2,268 (18%) are permanent residents, 6,325 (50%) are international students, and the remaining 3,305 (26%) hold other kinds of visas.

Aside from South Korean expatriates, children adopted from Korea into French families form another portion of France's Korean population; most were adopted at between ages three and nine.{{harvnb|Ventureyra|Palliere|2004|p=208}} The number of North Korean refugees has also been on the rise.{{cite news|script-title=ko:프랑스 북한주민돕기위원회: "북한난민처리 기준 결의안 발의, 유럽의회에 올해 요청할 것"|work=Radio Free Asia|language=ko|url=https://preview.rfaweb.org/korean/in_focus/french_human_rights_group_call_resolution_nk_refugee-20060118.html|date=2006-01-18|access-date=2007-05-30}}

Koreans in France are served by five Korean-language weekend schools, the oldest and largest of which is the Paris Hangul School, established 18 August 1974; it enrolled 170 students as of 2007.{{harvnb|NIIED|2007|loc=[http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=215&page=19&key= 파리한글학교]}} Four others, in Villeurbanne, Grenoble, Strasbourg, and Toulouse, were established between 1994 and 2000; they enrolled a further 78 students.{{harvnb|NIIED|2007|loc=[http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=211&page=18&key= 그르노블한국학교]}}{{harvnb|NIIED|2007|loc=[http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=212&page=19&key= 뚜르즈한글학교]}}{{harvnb|NIIED|2007|loc=[http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=213&page=19&key= 리용한글학교]}}{{harvnb|NIIED|2007|loc=[http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=214&page=19&key= 스트라스부르그한글학교]}} A significant number also attend French universities; in total, about half of the Korean population in France are estimated to be students, falling from two-thirds a decade ago.

Not many French people know that their country has a Korean community at all. In many cases, Koreans are mistaken for Chinese and thus lumped in as economic refugees.{{harvnb|Lee-Le Neindre|2001|p=3}}

As of 2001, only about 200 of the South Koreans in France were members of internationally married couples consisting of a South Korean partner and a French partner. Such couples experienced a number of cultural conflicts, most commonly over the rigour of their children's education.

Portrayals in popular culture of Koreans in France include the 2004 South Korean television series Lovers in Paris; its popularity has resulted in an increase in the number of Korean tourists visiting France. A more recent one is Hong Sang-soo's 2008 film Night and Day.{{citation|first=Dan|last=Fainaru|title=Night and Day|work=Screen Daily|date=2008-02-12|url=http://www.screendaily.com/night-and-day-bam-gua-nat/4037291.article|access-date=2012-08-22}}

{{further|:Category:French people of Korean descent}}

• Myung-whun Chung, Seoul-born Korean American, director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
• Jean-Baptiste Kim, former unofficial North Korean spokesman{{citation|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/600861/from-despotandx2019s-pr-man-to-surrey-salesman.thtml |title=From despot's PR man to Surrey salesman |periodical=The Spectator |date=2008-04-09 |access-date=2009-09-01 |last=Michael |first=Christopher |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802043129/http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/600861/from-despotandx2019s-pr-man-to-surrey-salesman.thtml |archive-date=2008-08-02 }}
• Fleur Pellerin, Ministry of Culture{{citation|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/05/18/2012051800728.html|title=Korean Adoptee Becomes French Deputy Minister|periodical=Chosun Ilbo|date=2012-05-18|access-date=2012-05-19}}
• Jean-Vincent Placé, French politician{{citation|first=Sébastien|last=Falletti|title=Jean-Vincent Placé renoue avec ses racines coréennes|periodical=Le Figaro|date=2011-11-01|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2011/11/01/01002-20111101ARTFIG00510-jean-vincent-place-renoue-avec-ses-racines-coreennes.php|access-date=2012-08-18}}
• Daul Kim, Korean model
• Cédric O, French politician
• Delphine O, French politician
• Pom Klementieff, actress
• Ysabelle Lacamp, French novelist, singer and actress
• Euny Hong, author and journalist{{Cite news |last=Hong |first=Euny |date=2023-08-08 |title=Opinion {{!}} In Paris, I Get Judged on What I Speak, Not How I Look |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/08/opinion/contributors/language-france-french-perception.html |access-date=2024-05-16 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
• Elisa Shua Dusapin, Franco-Korean writer

{{Portal|France|South Korea|North Korea}}

• French people in Korea

{{reflist|3}}

• {{citation|date=May 2006|volume=15|title=120th Anniversary of Korea-France Diplomatic Relations|last=Lee|first=Yang-gu|journal=The Korea Foundation Newsletter|url=http://newsletter.kf.or.kr/english/contents.asp?vol=63&lang=English&no=683|access-date=2008-12-07|issue=2}}
• {{citation|last=Lee-Le Neindre|first=Bouriane|chapter-url=http://www.unifr.ch/ipg/aric/assets/files/ARICManifestations/2001Actes8eCongres/LeeLeNeindreB.pdf|access-date=2008-12-07|chapter=L’interculturel entre l’Orient et l’Occident - les particularités et les difficultés à travers les cas des résidents coréens en France|title=Actes du VIIIe congrès de l'Association pour la recherche interculturelle|publisher=University of Geneva|date=September 2001}}
• {{citation|chapter=In search of the lost language: The case of adopted Koreans in France|last1=Ventureyra|first1=Valérie A.G.|first2=Christophe|last2=Palliere|editor-first=Monika S.|editor-last=Schmid|title=First Language Attrition: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Methodological Issues|pages=207–224|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company|publication-place=Amsterdam, Netherlands|year=2004|isbn=90-272-4139-2}}
• {{citation|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade |publication-place=South Korea |year=2009 |access-date=2009-05-21 |url=http://www.mofat.go.kr/consul/overseascitizen/compatriotcondition/index6.jsp?TabMenu=TabMenu6 |language=ko-kr |script-title=ko:재외동포현황 |trans-title=Current Status of Overseas Compatriots |ref=CITEREFMOFAT2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20101023213104/http://www.mofat.go.kr/consul/overseascitizen/compatriotcondition/index6.jsp?TabMenu=TabMenu6 |archive-date=2010-10-23 }}
• {{citation|url=http://www.mofat.go.kr/webmodule/htsboard/template/read/korboardread.jsp?typeID=6&boardid=232&seqno=334627&c=&t=&pagenum=1&tableName=TYPE_DATABOARD&pc=&dc=&wc=&lu=&vu=&iu=&du=|script-title=ko:재외동포 본문(지역별 상세) |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade|date=2011-07-15|access-date=2012-05-19|ref=CITEREFMOFAT2011}}
• {{citation|chapter-url=http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal.htm?key=5|chapter=Europe|title=Overseas Korean Educational Institutions|publisher=National Institute for International Education Development|publication-place=Seoul|year=2007|access-date=2008-12-07|ref=CITEREFNIIED2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012012222/http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal.htm?key=5|archive-date=2008-10-12|url-status=dead}}

• {{citation|last=Lim|first=Young-hee|chapter=History of Koreans in France|title=International Conference on Korean Historical Materials and the History of Koreans in Europe|publisher=University of Bonn|date=November 2004}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081224082822/http://www.francezone.com/pub4a.htm Le Journal Hanweekly], a newspaper aimed at Koreans in France

{{Migration to France from Asia}}

{{Korean diaspora}}

Category:Asian diaspora in France

Category:Ethnic groups in France

France

Category:Immigration to France by country of origin

France