Koreans in Germany

File:Kim-Yu-taik WorkersToGermany 1962-08-16.jpg

File:South Korean population relative to total South Korean population in Germany 2021.svg in 2021]]

Some students, nurses, and industrial trainees from South Korea had already been in West Germany in the late 1950s.{{Cite web|last1=Choi|first1=Sun-Ju|first2=You-Jae|last2=Lee|url=http://www.goethe.de/ins/kr/seo/pro/redigiert.pdf|language=de|title=Umgekehrte Entwicklungshilfe - Die koreanische Arbeitsmigration in Deutschland (Reverse Development Assistance - Korean labour migration in Germany)|publisher=Goethe Institute|location=Seoul|date=January 2006}} However, mass migration did not begin until the 1960s, when West Germany invited nurses and miners from South Korea to come as Gastarbeiter; their recruitment of labourers specifically from South Korea was driven not just by economic necessity, but also by a desire to demonstrate support for a country that, like Germany, had been divided by ideology.{{cite news|url=http://english.ohmynews.com/ArticleView/article_view.asp?menu=A11100&no=362707&rel_no=1&back_url=|first=Jan|last=Creutzenberg|work=OhmyNews|title=Two Stories of Exploitation and Integration: Double lecture on Korean and Vietnamese work migration in Germany|date=22 May 2007|access-date=30 May 2007}} 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. 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.{{cite journal|title=Why Germany's guestworkers were largely Europeans: The selective principles of post-war labour recruitment policy|first=Karen|last=Schönwälder|journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies|volume=27|issue=2|date=March 2003|pages=248–265|doi=10.1080/0141987042000177324|s2cid=145300975}} 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.{{cite conference|last=Kang|first=Tai S.|publisher=Center for Survey Methods Research, Bureau of the Census|date=March 1990|title=An ethnography of Koreans in Queens, New York, and elsewhere in the United States|book-title=Ethnographic Exploratory Research Report #8|url=https://www.census.gov/srd/papers/pdf/ex90-08.pdf|access-date=30 May 2007}} 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.

North and South Korea vied for influence among the Korean community in West Germany during the 1960s and 1970s; North Korea sent operatives to West Germany disguised as professors in order to recruit among the Korean community there.{{cite news|url=http://www.donga.com/fbin/news_plus?d=news90&f=np090ff040.html|publisher=The Dong-a Ilbo|last=Kim|first=Chang-hui|title=동백림사건요？ 코미디였지요|year=1997|access-date=30 May 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050310153419/http://www.donga.com/fbin/news_plus?d=news90&f=np090ff040.html|archive-date=10 March 2005}} In 1967, South Korea forcibly extradited, without the consent of the West German government, a number of Koreans suspected of spying for the North, the most famous of whom was composer and later German citizen Isang Yun. They were tortured to extract false confessions, and six were sentenced to death. West Germany expelled three South Korean diplomats in the aftermath of the incident, and seriously considered breaking off diplomatic relations with South Korea.{{cite book|last=Cumings|first=Bruce|title=Korea's place in the sun : a modern history|year=2005|publisher=W.W. Norton|location=New York|isbn=978-0393327021|page=346|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LR8svgdNOAYC&pg=PT346|edition=Updated}} However, they decided against it as the South's attention shifted to the 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.{{cite news|last=Gil|first=Yun-hyeong|url=http://www.hani.co.kr/section-005000000/2004/10/005000000200410291814225.html|date=30 October 2004|access-date=30 May 2007|title=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)|newspaper=The Hankyoreh}}

There has been a movement among South Korean miners in Germany in 2011 to let the South Korean government officially recognize their patriotic effort.{{cite news | first = Gil-hwan (길환) | last = Wang (왕) | script-title=ko:파독광부들 "국가유공자로 인정해 달라" | date = 14 April 2011 | url = http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2011/04/13/0200000000AKR20110413140100069.HTML | work=Yonhap News Agency | access-date = 8 December 2011 | language = ko}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-20634-0003, Berlin, Ankunft von koreanischen Gaststudenten.jpg

File:North Korean population relative to total North Korean population in Germany 2021.svg in 2021]]

There was also a Korean presence in East Germany, though it was much smaller. During the post-Korean War reconstruction period of North Korea from 1953 to 1962, many North Korean students enrolled in universities and colleges in the Soviet bloc, and others came as industrial trainees.{{source needed|date=October 2024}} 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.{{cite book|last=Frank|first=Rüdiger|title=Die DDR und Nordkorea. Der Wiederaufbau der Stadt Hamhŭng von 1954–1962|date=December 1996|publisher=Shaker|location=Aachen|language=de|isbn=978-3-8265-5472-8}}{{cite news|url=http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2872382|newspaper=JoongAng Ilbo|date=13 February 2007|access-date=31 May 2007|title=North Korean husband of German woman is alive|last=Ryu|first=Kwon-ha}}

In the 1980s, relations between North Korea and East Germany improved again, and about 1,500 North Korean students came to East Germany.{{cite news|work=Daily NK|url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02500&num=7754|title=An Anti-Reform Marriage of Convenience|first=Chris|last=Green|date=31 May 2011|access-date=4 June 2011}} 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.{{cite news|newspaper=The Chosun Ilbo |title=Germany Gets Maximum Concessions from NK |date=11 March 2001 |access-date=31 May 2007 |last=Pak |first=Sung-jo |url=http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200103/200103110153.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614032046/http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200103/200103110153.html |archive-date=14 June 2006 }}

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/international/asia/09korea.html?ex=1281240000&en=34eff97d65494495&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss|first=Norimitsu|last=Onishi|date=9 August 2005|access-date=30 May 2007|work=The New York Times|title=In a Corner of South Korea, a Taste of German Living}}

Over 70% of second-generation Korean descendants in Germany hold at least an Abitur or higher educational qualification, more than twice the ratio for the rest of the population (see also: Academic achievement among different groups in Germany). Outside of the regular educational system, Koreans in Germany are also served by 37 weekend Korean-language schools, the earliest of which, the Köln Koreans' School, was established on 10 April 1973. Further schools were founded in Aachen, Hamburg, Rüsselsheim, Düsseldorf, Neunkirchen, Bickenbach, Bochum, Hannover, Kamp-Lintfort, Krefeld, Dortmund, Germering and Hamminkeln in the 1970s, Essen, Berlin, Dudweiler, Kassel, Marl, Leverkusen, Oberhausen, Göttingen, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Bremen, Karlsruhe, Wuppertal, Augsburg, Heidelberg, Herzogenaurach, and Osnabrück in the 1980s, and Münster, Wolfsburg, Kiel, Freiburg, Siegen, and Rimpar in the 1990s. As of 2007, total enrollment in all Korean schools across Germany was 1,748 students.{{cite web|url=http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal.htm?page=1&key=&optSearch=country&txtSearch=&selCo=29 |publisher=National Institute for International Education Development, Republic of Korea |year=2007 |access-date=31 May 2007 |title=Overseas Korean Educational Institutions: Germany |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930200903/http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal.htm?page=1&key=&optSearch=country&txtSearch=&selCo=29 |archive-date=30 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}

{{Main category|German people of Korean descent}}

{{image array|perrow=3|width=120|height=140| border-width = 1

| image1 = |caption1= Isang Yun

| image2 = Ji-in Cho, Amphi Festival 2007 (2).jpg|caption2= Ji-In Cho

| image3 = Martin hyun away.jpg|caption3= Martin Hyun

}}

• Cha Bum-Kun, noted football player in Bundesliga, known as Tscha Bum ("Cha Boom").
• Unsuk Chin, composer.{{cite journal|journal=Musical Times |last=Whittall |first=Arnold |author-link=Arnold Whittall |title=Unsuk Chin in focus: Meditations and mechanics |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F1004366 |doi=10.2307/1004366 |volume=141 |issue=1870 |date=Spring 2000 |pages=21–32 |jstor=1004366 |publisher=The Musical Times, Vol. 141, No. 1870 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050405121549/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3870/is_200004/ai_n8891711 |archive-date=5 April 2005 |url-access=subscription }}
• Caroline Fischer, pianist.
• Martin Hyun, professional ice hockey player who played in Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
• Mike Leon Grosch, singer who was the finalist of Deutschland sucht den SuperStar.
• Bae Suah, author and translator.
• Ji-In Cho, musician and the lead vocalist and pianist for Krypteria.
• Byung-Chul Han, author, cultural theorist, and professor at the Berlin University of the Arts.
• In-Ah Lee, film director from Hamburg, now based in Los Angeles.
• Mirok Li, novelist who sought exile in Germany.
• Ill-Young Kim, moderator, stand-up comedian and actor.
• Kim Isak, singer and radio personality who was born in Germany but is mainly active in South Korea.
• Simone Hauswald, biathlete and 2010 Winter Olympics bronze medalist.
• Oh Kil-nam, economist who defected to North Korea with wife Shin Suk-ja and two daughters, then returned to Europe, Germany then Denmark, alone to seek political asylum.{{Cite news|last=Harden|first=Blaine|date=22 February 2010|title=A family and a conscience, destroyed by North Korea's cruelty|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/21/AR2010022103690.html?sid=ST2010022103942|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=25 February 2010}}
• Song Du-yul, philosophy professor and former prisoner under South Korea's National Security Act.{{cite journal|title=Democracy and National Security in South Korea: The Song Du Yol Affair|last=Kajimura|first=Tai'ichiro|journal=Japan Focus|date=10 December 2004|access-date=13 July 2007|issn=1557-4660|url=http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1585|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070602050746/http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1585|archive-date=2 June 2007}}
• Isang Yun, composer and former political prisoner.
• Cha Du-Ri, footballer, son of Cha Bum-Kun.
• Teo Yoo, German-born South Korean actor.

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite book|last=Yoo|first=Jung-Sook|year=1996|title=Koreanische Immigranten in Deutschland: Interessensvertretung und Selbsorganisation|isbn=978-3-86064-502-4|location=Hamburg|publisher=Verlag Dr. Kovač}}

• {{cite journal|title=Koreans in Germany: the Story of Kwang-Chung Kim|year=1997|volume=3|journal=Occasional Papers of the Korean American Historical Society|issn=1088-1964|url=http://www.kahs.org/journal.html|access-date=30 May 2007|pages=33–48|last=Kim|first=Hae-soon|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610015547/http://www.kahs.org/journal.html|archive-date=10 June 2007}}
• {{cite book|last=Schwekendiek|first=Daniel|year=2012|title=Korean Migration to the Wealthy West|isbn=978-1614703693 |location=New York|publisher=Nova Publishers}}
• {{cite book|last=Hoffmann|first=Frank|year=2015|title=Berlin Koreans and Pictured Koreans|series=Koreans and Central Europeans: Informal Contacts up to 1950, vol. 1, ed. Andreas Schirmer|isbn=978-3-7069-0873-3|url=https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://koreanstudies.com/img/Berlin-Koreans.pdf|location=Vienna|publisher=Praesens}}

• [http://www.hangaram.de Hangaram Magazine]

{{Immigration to Germany}}

{{Korean diaspora}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koreans In Germany}}

Category:Asian diaspora in Germany

Germany