Korea's population is one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogenous in the world, with the only minorities being very small Chinese communities in South and North Korea, and a very small Japanese one in North Korea.
According to 2000 estimates, the population was:
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2 Koreans in Central Asia 3 Koreans in China 4 Koreans in Japan 5 Koreans in other countries 6 See also 7 External links |
Culture
The Korean language: there are around 70 million Korean speakers worldwide. "Korea Towns" can be found in New York and Los Angeles with signs in Korean.
Approximately 450,000 ethnic Koreans reside in the former USSR, primarily in the newly independent states of Central Asia. In 1937, Stalin deported approximately 200,000 ethnic Koreans to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, on the official premise that the Koreans might act as spies for Japan.
As of January 1, 1998, 1,123,200 ethnic Koreans lived in Uzbekistan, amounting to 4.7% of the total country's population.
Probably as a consequence of these ethnic ties, South Korea was the second import partner of Uzbekistan, after Russia, and one of its largest foreign investors. The car manufacturer Daewoo set up a joint venture (August 1992) and a factory in Asaka city, Andizhan province, in Uzbekistan.
Koreans form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. It is considered one of the "major minorities".
They mostly occupy the north of China, especially in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, where they numbered 854,000 in 1997.
There are 528,904 Koreans in Japan, amounting to 40.4% of the non-Japanese population of the country. 75% of the Japanese Koreans are Japanese-born, but most are legal aliens nevertheless.
See also: Ethnic issues in JapanKoreans in Central Asia
Koreans in China
Koreans in Japan