Celebrating Korean culture in Flushing, a mecca of immigration for Koreans arriving in New York City. Tribune photo by Ira Cohen

By Aaron Rutkoff

How Many Are There?
he last national census found 62,130 people of Korean descent in Queens. Though this number is nearly half as large as more populous Asian groups found prominently in the borough, like Indian and Chinese Americans, it does not reveal one of the more striking aspects of the relationship between the Korean American community and Queens.

Nearly three in four Koreans living in New York City have a Queens address, according to census figures from 2000. Those figures show that the Big Apple is home to the second-largest number of Koreans in the United States, with only Los Angeles boasting a larger Korean population, and throughout the 90s the Korean community in the city grew by 30 percent.

The overwhelming focus on Queens as the center for recent immigrants in the region, as well as the community of choice for the children of already established Korean Americans, gives the borough great significance for this rapidly growing population. It also assures that the Korean community leaves its distinctive mark, both culturally and economically, on the borough.

Who Are They?
Anyone that hails from the Korean peninsula fits into the category “Korean,” however residents of Queens with Korean ancestry do not represent the peninsula evenly. Almost 100 percent of the Koreans living in Queens, much like the overall Korean population in the United States, hail from Republic of Korea — the half of the divided peninsula more commonly known as South Korea.

This fact is the direct result of the historical ties between the U.S. and the South, where American military forces fighting under a United Nations flag battled the communist-backed North Korean military in the early 1950s. The totalitarian régime that has controlled North Korea since that time restricts freedoms of travel and emigration, along with many other basic rights. As a result, few North Koreans have managed to make it to the United States.

An analysis of census statistics by the Asian American Federation of New York (AAF-NY) revealed other salient features of the Korean-American community. In relation to other large immigrant groups, AAFNY found that Koreans generally have less English ability but a higher degree of formal education among adults. AAF-NY also found that an astounding 80 percent of Koreans living in New York City are immigrants, a statistic that reveals the fast expanding nature of the community and may also explain the relatively low level of English language fluency among adults.

When Did They Get Here?
Owing in small part to the legacy of the Korean War, immigrants from South Korea began relocating to the United States in large numbers after immigration reforms of the 1960s.

“They were affected by the new immigration policy of the Kennedy Administration in 1965. That opened up immigration for Koreans,” explained Kwang S. Kim, president of Korean Community Services of New York, an organization founded in 1973 to assist the exploding population of Korean immigrants in the city.

Reforms undertaken by President Kennedy did away with the old “quota system,” which effectively limited the number of immigrants from Asian nations. When the restrictions were loosened, Koreans responded by moving to the U.S. in increasing numbers, especially from the mid-1970s to the present. From 1976 to 1990, Koreans immigrated to the U.S. at an average annual rate of 32,500. In the 1970s and 80s, Koreans were the third-largest immigrant group.

The number of Korean immigrants peaked in 1987, the year before the Seoul Olympic Games, and has fallen steadily ever since, owing in large part to the economic success of South Korea.

Where Do They Live?
The Korean American community in Queens has traced a familiar trajectory in the borough. The earliest immigrants to Queens, who arrived in a major wave beginning in 1965, settled in the Jackson Heights-Corona-Sunnyside-Elmhurst corridor, which has long been a place where new immigrants first put down roots in the city. Census figures from 2000 continue to highlight a significant Korean American presence in those communities.

But as the decades have passed and Koreans have become one of the major immigrant groups in Queens, the population has moved steadily eastward. The greater Flushing area is now home to the largest number of Korean Americans in Queens, with a dominant Korean retail presence on Union Street that has spread along much of Northern Boulevard.

“People have a tendency to move east along Northern Boulevard, toward Bayside and Little Neck,” said Kwang Kim. Today, after years of gradual economic improvement and community expansion, Korean Americans have moved into the eastern edge of borough, finally emerging in significant numbers as homeowners in the suburban communities of Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.

The church is a focal point for Korean life in Queens. Tribune photo by Ira Cohen

Where Do They Worship?
By and large, Koreans practice Christianity, owing in large part to the travels of Protestant missionaries through Korea in the 19th century. The Korean American community is represented across a number of different denominations, including Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal, though a majority in Queens identifies as Presbyterian.

A great number of these churches can be found in the same areas of the borough that host significant Korean populations. Flushing alone, for example, has at least forty churches that cater specifically to the Korean community, with many offering Korean language worship.

Where Do They Shop?
With shopping, Korean Americans in Queens mirror their residential migration. The most well established cluster of Korean retailers resides in downtown Flushing. Union Streets, especially on the blocks north of Northern Boulevard, boasts the strongest contingent of Korean shops. The emerging business clout of the Korean American community in the area has taken shape in a newly formed business group within the Korean American Association of Flushing. Overall, Chinese-owned business continue to dominate the center of Flushing, but Korean-owned shops prosper in the periphery of the dynamic Flushing area.

Where Do They Eat?
The eastern stretches of Northern Boulevard, running from Flushing all the way to city limits, feature scores of Korean eateries. Motorists traveling east on Northern may mistake many of the restaurants for interesting fusion cuisine, combining the BBQ traditions of the American South with traditional Korean recipes.

Kum Gang San on Northern Boulevard in Flushing is a massive restaurant and catering hall where traditional Korean cuisine rules the day. For a taste of typical Korean cooking, try the “galbi,” which is BBQ ribs Korean-style.

Signs of the times – These Korean language signs reveal a thriving ethnic business enviornment on Union Street in Flushing. Tribune photo by Ira Cohen

What Do They Do For A Living?
The vast majority of Korean Americans in Queens are foreign-born, and this fact helps determine the economic horizons of many Koreans in the borough. According to Kwang Kim, the person who picks up a new Korean immigrant from the airport may very well determine that person’s economic future. “That is to say, if they are picked up by a dry cleaner, they are most likely to go into the dry cleaning business,” he explained.

As with other newer immigrant groups, Korean Americans tend to focus on retail businesses, which have flourished in many parts of Northeast Queens. Union Street in Flushing, with its almost completely Korean storefront signage, is a mecca of Korean retail.

Among new immigrants, retail is pretty much preferred,” said Kim. “The second generation, they are educated in the this county and they choose their own professions.”

As professionals, Korean Americans have a proud legacy in the medicine. Before the immigration reforms of 1965, visas for medical students were one of the only ways for Koreans to get into the country, and many selected to stay in the U.S. to practice medicine. Korean immigrants also place a strong emphasis on education, which allows the children of foreign-born Koreans to move upward on the economic ladder.

Korean American businesses have attained significant strength in the wholesale sector in New York City, with a well-established—and widely Korean-owned—wholesale import-export district in midtown Manhattan. These booming businesses will soon relocate to Queens, as a consortium of Korean wholesalers recently won the rights to build a distribution center on the long dormant Flushing Airport site in College Point.