Information about Korean People

Koreans 한민족(韓民族)
Complex of Goguryeo Tombs
Total population
78 million (est.)
Regions with significant populations
South Korea      49,422,644 (2005 est.)  North Korea      22,912,177 (2005 est.) korean ancestry/overseas korean without naturalization (but with the exception of China,CIS,Japan by reason of Korean diaspora) Source : Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade 외교통상부[1] Korean :[2] English : [3][4][5]
China 2,439,395  United States 2,087,496  Japan 901,284 (incl. Russia) 532,697  Brazil 250,000  Australia 150,000  Canada 110,000  Philippines 92,608  United Kingdom 40,810  Argentina 35,000  Germany 34,000  Vietnam 33,000  New Zealand 31,500  Indonesia 23,205  Thailand 19,500  Mexico 14,571  France 13,162
Languages
Korean speakers: 80 million[1]
Religions
Nonreligious, Buddhist, Christian, Shamanism, Chondogyo, Confucian, Taoist, other

The Korean people are an East Asian ethnic group ^[2]. Most Koreans live in the Korean Peninsula, and speak the Korean language.

Names

South Koreans call Koreans Hangukin (or simply 한인/Han-in for South Koreans living abroad) (한국인; 韓國人) or informally Hanguk saram (한국 사람; 韓國 사람), while North Koreans call Koreans Chosŏn-in (조선인; 朝鮮人) or Chosŏn saram (조선 사람; 朝鮮 사람). See Names of Korea, Korean romanization, Hangul and Hanja.

Origins

See also:

Koreans are believed to be descendents of Altaic^[3][4] or proto-Altaic^[5] speaking tribes, linking them with Mongolians, Tungusics, Turkics, and other Central Asians. Archaeological evidence suggest proto-Koreans were Altaic language speaking migrants from south-central Siberia^[6], who populated ancient Korea in successive waves from neolithic age to Bronze Age^[7].

Recent advances in the study of polymorphisms in the human Y-chromosome have produced evidence to suggest that the Korean people have a very long history as a distinct, mostly endogamous ethnic group, as male Koreans display a high frequency of Y-chromosomes belonging to Haplogroup O2b1 that are more or less specific to Korean populations.

Though they have interbred to some extent with other East Asian ethnic groups over the ages, for the most part Koreans still display phenotypes revealing their Altaic origins. These features include tall stature, long bridged noses, higher cheekbones, and the Mongolian spot, a genetic predisposition for a bluish birthmark on the lower body which remains until early childhood.

Regional differences

Significant regional differences exist.

Within South Korea, the most important regional difference is between the Gyeongsang region, embracing Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do provinces in the southeast, and the Jeolla region, embracing Jeollabuk-do and Jeollanam-do provinces in the southwest. The two regions, separated by the Jiri Massif, nurture a rivalry said to reach back to the Three Kingdoms Period, which lasted from the fourth century to the seventh century A.D., when the kingdoms of Baekje and Silla struggled for control of the peninsula.

Observers noted that interregional marriages are rare, and that as of 1990 a new fourlane highway completed in 1984 between Gwangju and Daegu, the capitals of Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do, completed in 1984, had not been successful in promoting travel between the two areas.

South Korea's political elite, including presidents Park Chung-hee, Chun Doo-hwan, and Roh Tae-woo, have come largely from the Gyeongsang region. As a result, Gyeongsang has been a special beneficiary of government development assistance.

By contrast, the Jeolla region has remained comparatively rural, undeveloped, and poor. Chronically disaffected, its people rightly or wrongly have a reputation for rebelliousness. Regional bitterness was intensified by the May 1980 Gwangju massacre, in which about 200 and perhaps many more inhabitants of the capital of Jeollanam-do were killed by Chun Doo-hwan's troops sent to quell the citizens and student's demonstration against military coup regime. The demonstration against military regime occurred all over the country, but only Gwangju was heavily damaged. Many of the troops were reportedly from the Gyeongsang region.

Regional stereotypes, like regional dialects, have been breaking down under the influence of centralized education, nationwide media, and the several decades of population movement since the Korean War. Stereotypes remain important, however, in the eyes of many South Koreans. For example, the people of Gyeonggi-do, surrounding Seoul, are often described as being cultured, and Chungcheong people, inhabiting the region embracing Chungcheongbuk-do and Chungcheongnam-do provinces, are thought to be mild-mannered, manifesting true yangban virtues. The people of Gangwon-do in the northeast were viewed as poor and stolid, while Koreans from the northern provinces of Pyongan, Hwanghae, and Hamgyong, now in North Korea, are perceived as being diligent and aggressive. Jeju-do is infamous for its strong-minded and independent women.

Culture

Main articles: Culture of Korea, contemporary culture of North Korea, and contemporary culture of South Korea

North Korea and South Korea share a common heritage, but the political division since 1944 has resulted in some divergence of modern culture.

Language

Main articles: Korean language and Hangul

The language of the Korean people is the Korean language, which uses hangul as its main writing system. There are around 73 million speakers of the Korean language worldwide.

North Korea data

Estimating the size, growth rate, sex ratio, and age structure of North Korea's population has been extremely difficult. Until release of official data in 1989, the 1963 edition of the North Korea Central Yearbook was the last official publication to disclose population figures. After 1963 demographers used varying methods to estimate the population. They either totaled the number of delegates elected to the Supreme People's Assembly (each delegate representing 50,000 people before 1962 and 30,000 people afterward) or relied on official statements that a certain number of persons, or percentage of the population, was engaged in a particular activity. Thus, on the basis of remarks made by President Kim Il Sung in 1977 concerning school attendance, the population that year was calculated at 17.2 million persons. During the 1980s, health statistics, including life expectancy and causes of mortality, were gradually made available to the outside world.

In 1989 the Central Statistics Bureau released demographic data to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) in order to secure the UNFPA's assistance in holding North Korea's first nationwide census since the establishment of the state in 1948. Although the figures given to the United Nations might have been distorted, it appears that in line with other attempts to open itself to the outside world, the North Korean regime has also opened somewhat in the demographic realm. Although the country lacks trained demographers, accurate data on household registration, migration, and births and deaths are available to North Korean authorities. According to the United States scholar Nicholas Eberstadt and demographer Judith Banister, vital statistics and personal information on residents are kept by agencies on the ri (“village”, the local administrative unit) level in rural areas and the dong (“district” or “block”) level in urban areas.

Koreans outside of the Korean peninsula

Main article: Korean diaspora

Large-scale emigration from Korea began as early as the mid-1860s, mainly into the Russian Far East and Northeast China; these emigrants became the ancestors of the 2 million ethnic Koreans in China and several hundred thousand ethnic Koreans in Central Asia. During the Japanese colonial period of 1910-1945, Koreans were often recruited and or forced into labour service to work in mainland Japan, Karafuto Prefecture, and Manchukuo; the ones who chose to remain in Japan at the end of the war became known as Zainichi Koreans, while the roughly 40 thousand who were trapped in Karafuto after the Soviet invasion are typically referred to as Sakhalin Koreans. Korean emigration to America was known to have begun as early as 1903, but the Korean American community did not grow to a significant size until after the passage of the Immigration Reform Act of 1965; now, roughly 2 million Koreans live in the United States.

Large Koreatowns can also be found in Australia, Brazil, and Canada. The largest Korean community outside of Korea is in Los Angeles, California. British Koreans now form Western Europe's largest Korean community; Koreans in Germany used to outnumber the ones in the UK until the late 1990s. There are also Koreatowns in Latin American countries such as Argentina, Guatemala, and Mexico. In recent years, the number of Koreans in the Philippines and Koreans in Vietnam have also grown significantly.

See also

• Korean diaspora
• Koryo-saram (Koreans of the former Soviet Union)
• Koreatown
• Demographics of North Korea
• Demographics of South Korea
• List of Korea-related topics

Notes

References

• 서의식 and 강봉룡. 뿌리 깊은 한국사, 샘이 깊은 이야기: 고조선, 삼국, ISBN 89-8133-536-2
• Barnes, Gina. The Rise of Civilization in East Asia: the Archaeology of China, Korea and Japan, ISBN 05-0027-974-8

External links

• Korean Food Glossary
• Korean American Museum
• Korean Residents Union in Japan (Mindan)