SPEAKING FREELY South Koreans
find the good life in China By
Hyejin Kim
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Asia Times Online feature that allows guest
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For decades, South
Korea's out-migration rate has been among the
highest in the world. In the 1960s, Koreans left
their impoverished homeland for wealthy countries,
especially the United States and Germany. Korean
migrants dreamed they could get rich in those
societies, or at least they could give their
children a better future. Many gave up positions
of high social
status in South Korea, as
lawyers or professors, to enter US factories and
laundromats.
Over the past 10 years,
however, the stream of Korean emigration has been
diverted from Western countries to China, now the
hottest destination for Koreans moving abroad.
South Korea's rise to OECD status (the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development includes 30 industrialized nations
that share a commitment to democratic government
and market economy) has caused out-migration to
turn from developed societies to developing ones.
South Korea and China normalized
diplomatic relations in 1992. Since then, Koreans
have flocked to China. By the year 2000, China was
the top destination for trips out of the country.
In 2005, South Koreans made twice as many visits
to China as to any other country.
The maturing of the South
Korean economy, together with China's ongoing
industrialization, has spurred Korean business to
look to China for manpower. According to a study
by the Boston Group
of consultants, wages of Chinese manufacturing
laborers in 2003 were one-tenth those of South
Koreans. That research predicts that at least in
the near future Chinese labor costs will remain
much lower that South Korean labor costs.
China has become a major engine behind
South Korea's economic growth. Last year China
surpassed the US to become South Korea's No 1
trading partner. Not all Korean firms in China are
there for manufacturing. Samsung, for example,
employs 50,000 Chinese workers in 29 factories.
The firm is increasingly concentrating on research
and development work in China and hiring local
people for top management.
South Korea's
largest companies send residential representatives
to China for two to five years. Their employers
provide them with new apartments and tuition for
their children to enter elite schools.
Representatives get used to their luxurious lives
in China and once their tenure is up, they prefer
to stay and open their own firms or consulting
services.
The promise of China's cheap
labor pool attracts another group from South
Korea, small-time entrepreneurs. Some had operated
factories in Korea, and then transferred to China.
Others dash off to China with a small amount of
capital hoping to establish their own firms. The
financial crisis in 1997 pushed a wave of laid-off
Koreans to China in search of business. Some take
their retirement funds to open a shop or
restaurant in China. More than half of the
investment abroad by South Korean small and medium
enterprises in 2004 went to China.
The
other major motivation for South Koreans to move
to China is schooling. Previously, Korean parents
sent their children to school in the United States
or Canada, so they could learn English and return
to high-paying jobs. Now parents have another
option for sending their children to study abroad.
Chinese schools are far cheaper than those in
Western countries and China is much closer.
Furthermore, China offers relatively inexpensive
international schools where students learn both
Chinese and English. Koreans make up more than
half of foreign students in China.
A
visible sign of the rise of South Korean migration
to China is the emergence of "Korea towns" in
Chinese cities. South Korean businessmen, students
and their families form communities in major
cities, such as Beijing, Qingdao and Shanghai, as
well as in some small cities. In addition, all
these Korean communities are tightly connected
across cities. Based in the main office of the
Beijing-Korean Association, 31 local Korean
associations join South Koreans across the country
through regular meetings and special events. These
communities are all linked by the Internet, and
when one association holds an annual sports
competition, for example, other associations send
their teams or financial aid.
Korean
restaurants, karaoke bars and grocery stores in
Korea towns offer goods and services at prices far
below those in South Korea. South Koreans live
packed together in these towns. From their
neighbors and from community leaflets, they can
get information in Korean and can avoid the
language barrier.
While South Korean
migrants tended to stay in China on a short-term
basis in the 1990s, now they prefer to stay more
permanently. Rather than going back to South Korea
after finishing school, young people become
interested in working or starting their own
businesses in China. Whereas married businessmen
previously went alone back and forth to China, now
they have a tendency to take their families with
them. In Korea towns, these families can be
satisfied with their relatively luxurious lives
and with schooling opportunities for their
children. The increase in long-term settlers has
led to the expansion of Korea towns.
The
rapid rise of South Koreans in China reveals a new
concept of international migration among South
Koreans. In the past, international migration was
a way of seeking a better life in a wealthier
country. That meant saying farewell to the
homeland, possibly forever. In the earlier form of
migration they worked hard as members of a
minority group that sometimes faced
discrimination.
Now that their country has
industrialized, South Korean emigrants are no
longer fleeing poverty for chances in richer
countries, but using the wealth they have
generated over the last decades to invest in their
rising neighbor. In China, South Koreans have
stayed in close contact with the home country and
built up "Korean villages".
Hyejin
Kim is a specialist in East Asian affairs. She
is the author of two books and holds a doctorate
in Global Affairs.
(Copyright 2006
Hyejin Kim.)
Speaking Freely is an
Asia Times Online feature that allows guest
writers to have their say. Please click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
