Since the mid-1990s, transnationalism has been a buzz word in migration studies. While many social scientists have contributed to the burgeoning literature, there has been little research conducted on Korean-Canadian transnationalism. This paper reports on a survey that is conducted in the Greater Toronto Area involving 274 adult Korean-Canadians. It provides a descriptive profile of transnational linkages and behavior among Korean-Canadians in Toronto. The paper also considers a possible link between transnational behaviors, social integration, and migrant well-being. It is the first paper that provides a comprehensive set of survey data on North American Korean immigrants’ transnational ties to their homeland.   

Korean immigrant merchants in New York, Los Angeles, and other major metropolitan areas had severe conflicts with black customers, white suppliers, and other external groups in the 1980s and early 1990s. However, since the mid 1990s, their business-related conflicts have almost disappeared. This chapter explains that the changes in Korean immigrants’ business patterns, along with the changes in external factors, are responsible for the virtual disappearance of Korean merchants’ business-related inter-group conflicts in New York. In particular, it explains why black boycotts of Korean stores, which were prevalent in New York in the 1980s and early 1990s, almost disappeared. Changes in Korean immigrants’ business patterns in New York include lower self-employment rates compared to the 1980s and early 1990s, the reduction of Korean stores in black neighborhoods, Koreans' shift from retail businesses to service businesses, and their overall economic integration into the mainstream economy, including a predominant majority of second-generation Koreans’ entry into it. External factors include the conversion of lower-income black neighborhoods to more multiracial neighborhoods, and the movement of many mega stores to lower-income black neighborhoods. The same changes have occurred in other major metropolitan areas and thus Korean immigrants’ business-related conflicts have been significantly reduced in other areas too.    

Using in-depth interviews with 21 Korean international student wives (ISWs) and 8 student husbands, this paper explores the ways in which spousal power relations and the division of household labor changed for Korean ISWs after their migration to the U.S. In contrast to previous studies on ISWs that unanimously reported that the status of wives lowered after migration, this paper finds that the spousal relations of Korean ISWs were bifurcated between homemakers and female students. While homemakers became subordinate to their student husbands after migration, female students maintained egalitarian spousal relationships. In addition, whereas homemakers’ share of household labor and childcare responsibilities increased abruptly after migration, female students enjoyed a much more equal division of household labor. This paper discusses various factors that led to such divergent paths: the goals of migration, legal/social statuses and dependence on husbands, wives’ paid employment, the extent of wives’ social networks, and the living arrangements after migration. Although this study is based on the experiences of Korean ISWs, the findings can provide insights into the lives of other middle-class temporary migrant women across their countries of origin, because they may experience the same gender dynamics as middle-class temporary migrant women who are not allowed to work after migrating to the U.S. due to their similar types of visas.

Historically, Koreans have suffered a great deal of internal conflicts, mostly in the form of power struggles, while they showed a high level of solidarity reacting to external threats. Korean immigrants in the U.S. have gone through similar internal conflicts, combined with intensive solidarity when encountering external threats. Korean immigrants’ business-related conflicts with Black customers, White suppliers, Latino employees, White landlords, and government agencies have all enhanced their ethnic solidarity. However, among all the types of business-related conflicts with outside groups, Korean immigrants’ community-wide solidarity was enhanced the most by Black boycotts of Korean stores and the victimization of many Korean merchants during the 1990s riots. This chapter from Pyong Gap Min’s book Caught in the Middle: Korean Communities in New York and Los Angeles examines in detail how major Black boycotts of Korean stores in New York City and the victimization of many Korean merchants during the 1990s Los Angeles riots have enhanced Koreans’ ethnic solidarity and political consciousness. Memories of minority groups’ major historical sufferings, such as the Holocaust and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, have long become symbols of ethnic identity over generations. The victimization of many innocent Korean merchants during the Los Angeles riots is the most severe historical suffering Korean immigrants in the U.S. have ever experienced. As such, it will serve as an important historical event in the Korean community that will help second-, third- and higher-generation Korean Americans to preserve their ethnic identity.  Reading this chapter on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Sa-I-Gu, when Korean Americans are struggling for community empowerment, will be meaningful.