Koreans in the Philippines

Infobox Ethnic group
group = Koreans in the Philippines
flagicon|South Korea flagicon|Philippines


image_caption =
population = 86,800 (2007)citation|url=http://www.korean.net/morgue/status_4.jsp?tCode=status&dCode=0105|title=재외동포 다수거주 국가|publisher=Overseas Korean Foundation|date=2007|accessdate=2008-10-10]
regions = Metro Manila, Bacolod City, Cebu City, Davao City, Iloilo City, Cagayan de Oro City
languages = Korean, English, Tagalog, various Philippine languages
religions = Christianity
related = Koreans

Koreans in the Philippines, largely consisting of expatriates from South Korea, form the largest community of overseas Koreans in Southeast Asia and the seventh-largest in the world; as of 2007, statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade recorded their population at 86,800 individuals, up by 87% since 2005.cite news |url=http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200512/kt2005121517211054280.htm |publisher=The Korea Times|date=2005-12-15|accessdate=2007-02-16 |title="Korean Wave" in Philippines|last=Meinardus|first=Ronaldo] The first Korean immigrants came to the Philippines after World War II in search of better living conditions.citation|periodical=Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho|date=March 11, 2007] The Korean community in the Philippines had little influence on Philippine society until the late 1980s, when the Korean wave (the mass influx of Korean tourists and immigrants, as well as the increasing popularity of South Korean television and pop music) started.

Aside from long-term residents, at least 370,000 South Korean visitors came to the Philippines in 2004 for business, education, and/or leisure purposes. That number grew to 570,000 in 2006, meaning that South Korean tourists formed a larger group than American tourists for the first time.cite news|url=http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=575&Itemid=34|publisher=Asia Sentinel|title=Korea Invades the Philippines|date=2007-07-12|accessdate=2007-07-12|last=Damazo|first=Jet] The recent influx of Koreans has been so great that 65% of the 155,744 foreigners who visited Boracay, the Philippines's most popular tourist attraction, were South Koreans.Fact|date=March 2007 The most well-known Koreatowns in the Metro Manila area are located in Makati's Barangay Poblacion and BF Homes, Parañaque City. Outside of Manila, many Koreans also reside in quieter provincial cities such as Bacolod, Subic, Davao, and Baguio. The Philippines is a popular destination for retired South Koreans on fixed pensions; the Filipino government actively promotes the settlement of South Korean retirees in the country because of the potential lucrative opportunities for the local economy.cite news |url=http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/special/200607/kt2006070314293511440.htm |date=2006-07-03 |accessdate=2007-03-27 |last=Garcia |first=Cathy Rose A. |publisher=The Korea Times |title=More Koreans Look to Retire in Philippines]

The Korean community is usually seen as a closed group by Filipinos. However, interaction between the two groups is increasing, for example with the rise of Sandara Park, a Korean singer and actress on Philippine television.Or|date=October 2008 Korean Christian churches in Metro Manila and other large cities in the Philippines serve as centers of religious and social activity within the Korean community. Many South Koreans living in the Philippines are attracted to the low cost of English-language education and housing, both significantly cheaper than those offered in their native South Korea. The warmer climate is yet another motivating factor for the recent surge in migration. [cite news |url=http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/special/200607/kt2006070917022545270.htm |publisher=The Korea Times |date=2006-07-09 |accessdate=2007-02-16 |title=Philippine Cultural Center Opens |last=Yoon |first=Won-sup] Korean expatriates provide a significant stimulus to the local economy; they are estimated to spend between US$800 and $1000 per month, making an aggregate contribution of over $1 billion per year in consumer spending.

South Korean tourists often enroll in short-term courses in English language schools to cope with South Korea's growing demand for English proficiency. Their numbers include a large proportion of young people; according to Son Jung-Son of the Philippine-Korean Cultural Center in Seoul, over 1,500 Koreans under 20 years old arrive in the Philippines every month to study English. Koreans in the Philippines do not have a Korean day school, but are served by seven weekend schools, the first being the ones in Cebu and Antipolo, both founded in 1994. Between 1997 and 2000, five more schools were founded in Davao City, Angeles City, Pasay City, Baguio City, and Cainta; they enroll a total of 383 students. [cite web|title=Overseas Korean Educational Institutions: 한국쉐마학교|url=http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=861&page=9&key=2|publisher=National Institute for International Education Development, Republic of Korea|date=2007|accessdate=2007-05-15] [cite web|title=Overseas Korean Educational Institutions: 필리핀남부학교|url=http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=860&page=9&key=2|publisher=National Institute for International Education Development, Republic of Korea|date=2007|accessdate=2007-05-15] [cite web|title=Overseas Korean Educational Institutions: 엥켈레스한인학교|url=http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=859&page=9&key=2|publisher=National Institute for International Education Development, Republic of Korea|date=2007|accessdate=2007-05-15] [cite web|title=Overseas Korean Educational Institutions: 시부한글학교|url=http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=858&page=9&key=2|publisher=National Institute for International Education Development, Republic of Korea|date=2007|accessdate=2007-05-15] [cite web|title=Overseas Korean Educational Institutions: 바기오한인학교|url=http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=857&page=9&key=2|publisher=National Institute for International Education Development, Republic of Korea|date=2007|accessdate=2007-05-15] [cite web|title=Overseas Korean Educational Institutions: 마닐라한국아카데미|url=http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=856&page=9&key=2|publisher=National Institute for International Education Development, Republic of Korea|date=2007|accessdate=2007-05-15] [cite web|title=Overseas Korean Educational Institutions: 다바오한글학교|url=http://www.interedu.go.kr/edu_net/overseas/sch_informal_inform.htm?no=855&page=9&key=2|publisher=National Institute for International Education Development, Republic of Korea|date=2007|accessdate=2007-05-15]

Notable individuals

*Sam Oh - television host, radio jock, and lifestyle columnist
*Sandara Park - movie and television actress [cite news|url=http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/07/29/ENTR2006072970343.html|title=Sandara Park goes daring|date=2006-07-29|accessdate=2007-09-19|publisher=Manila Bulletin|last=Panaligan|first=Jojo P.]
*Grace Lee - television host and radio jock
*Jang Jae-jung, former president of the Korean Association of the Philippines [cite news|url=http://inews.mk.co.kr/CMS/sports/all/real/pt/6624064_3101.php|date=13 May 2005|accessdate=2007-09-19|publisher=Maeil Gyeongjae Ilbo|title=장재중 전필리핀한인회장 제작 영화 개봉 (Former Korean Association of the Philippines president Jang Jae-jung's movie starts showing)|last=Hwang|first=Gil-hwan]

ee also

*Filipinos in South Korea

References

Smaller ethnic groups in the Philippines