The Korean Diaspora and its Impact on Korea's Development

Abstract

This paper reviews the history of the Korean diaspora and the emigration of Koreans in different periods and attempts to demonstrate how the Korean diaspora has contributed to the country's development. As of 2003, the overseas Korean population was estimated at 6.1 million distributed in 173 countries. Up until the 1970s, emigration patterns from South Korea corresponded with the country's low level of development. From the 1970s, migration patterns had been more closely associated with development processes. The organized labor export undertaken by Korean labor companies in the 1970s facilitated monetary and trade gains. The contributions of overseas Korean communities and thriving businesses of Korean immigrants to the country's trade, investments and transfer of knowledge and skills provide an alternative view to concerns about brain drain that were much-discussed in the 1960s. Korea's transformation from a labor exporting country to a labor importing one in the late 1980s has had mixed results. On the one hand, it has led to the influx of ethnic Koreans from China, who provide cheap labor. On the other hand, unemployed Koreans, especially highly educated young people, are turning to overseas employment as an option. The Korean diaspora will continue to play important roles in the future development of Korea.