[120TH ANNIVERSARY OF EMIGRATION PART 1] Tracing the footsteps of Korean diaspora

코리안 디아스포라의 발자취를 찾아서

It's time for our weekly ARTS AND CULTURE segment.
Joining me in the studio is our culture correspondent Song Yoo-jin.
Welcome back, Yoo-jin.

Good evening.

Last week, you showed us a great way start off the new year with some exciting winter activities.
What do you have for this week?

Jung-min, have you heard of the term 'Korean diaspora'?

In fact, I have.
Do tell us more about it for anyone who might be unfamiliar with the term?

It's certainly not a word that we use in our everyday lives.
'Diaspora' is a term used to describe people of one country dispersed across the world.
It originally referred to scattered Jewish colonies or Jews living outside Palestine or modern Israel.
But over the years, it has evolved to describe other groups of people living away from their homeland.
In other words, cross-border migration.
And there's a reason I brought up Korean Diaspora today.
That's because today is the 120th anniversary of Korean emigration.
To guide our viewers through this history, I visited the very place where it all started.



The RMS Gaelic arrives in Honolulu, Hawaii at dawn.
The first emigration ship carrying Koreans.
How and why did they make that journey?


"This is where it all started.
Incheon port, known as Jemulpo port back in the early 1900s.
It was the country's largest port where more than half of its trade took place.
During this period, Koreans suffered political turmoil and food shortages.
And from here, looking to support their families and seeking a better life, 121 Korean emigrants boarded the Genkai Maru on December 22nd 1902, and set sail for Hawaii."

The ship arrived in Nagasaki, Japan two days later.
There, only one-hundred-2 who passed physical examinations got on board the Gaelic.
After arriving in Hawaii, most worked at sugar plantations for over ten hours a day, providing relatively cheap labor.

Following the first voyage, some 7-thousand-4-hundred Koreans moved to the U.S. over the next two years.
But this was only the start.

"Koreans started new lives as independence activists in China, farm workers in Mexico, theater actors in Russia, miners and nurses in Germany.
Their destinations diversified especially after the Emigration Act in 1962."

Currently, there are more than 7-point-3 million overseas Koreans across one-hundred-93 countries.
And now, there are those who are working to continue this legacy.
One is film director Lee Jin-young.

"After living here for several years, I got to learn about this amazing Korean immigrant history which was so very inspiring and very moving at the same time.
I wanted my daughter and their friends to know how much love they have received not just from their parents, but from ancestors."

There's also Korean American Julia Riew who rose to stardom after her Korean folktale-based musical 'Shimcheong' went viral online.

"I have so much more of an appreciation of the really hard work and difficult times that our grandparents went through in order to give their children and their grandchildren a better life and I hope to be able to pass on that legacy."

Though spread across the globe, one thing will never change --We're all Koreans by heart.

Yoo-jin, what an interesting and meaningful history it is.
We're definitely continuing to see more overseas Koreans doing their best in what they do.



You're right.
Culture is not the only sector that overseas Koreans are making their presence known.
Last year was especially worth noting, particularly in the political field.
All four Korean Americans who ran for Congress won their respective races in the U.S. midterm elections.
And a Korean American politician was elected to statewide office in the U.S. for the first time in history, Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, Sylvia Chang Luke.
As a country that's become a new home to the largest number of Korean emigrants and also where this history started, the U.S. has been celebrating January 13th as Korean American Day from 2005 to recognize contributions made by Korean Americans.
Today, marking the occasion, President Joe Biden released a statement saying that "Koreans have played a critical role both domestically and internationally as we live in a more interconnected global world."
And on Friday local time, a special ceremony will take place in Honolulu, at the first overseas Korean church.
President Yoon Suk Yeol will send his congratulatory remarks.

Alright.
Thank you for report Yoo-jin.

See you next week.


#Emigration #Diaspora #Arirang_News


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2023-01-13, 18:00 (KST)