Children of Koreans Abroad Learn Origins
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
A small boat with 103 people aboard reached Hawaii on Jan. 13, 1903. They had crossed the Pacific Ocean to earn money in sugar cane fields but their footsteps in history mark the first South Korean emigrants.
Some 105 years later, the number of Korean emigrants has jumped and their children and grandchildren are emerging as important post holders in officialdom, businesses and the legal sector.
According to government statistics, approximately 678,000 Koreans lived in foreign countries as of last year and 54.4 percent of second generation Koreans in the United States received bachelors or higher degrees.
As more than two million people rooted in foreign nations, they formed a large Korean society.
Provincial governments and many social groups are seeking to help second and third generations of overseas Koreans confidently stand as the next leaders outside South Korea by offering them opportunities to learn where they and their ancestors originated.
Parents’ Hometown
Jeju, Korea's largest island, has a long history of helping children of overseas Koreans, especially those who lived on the island, learn their roots.
It has invited these offspring, who are studying at universities in other regions of the country as well as overseas, every summer for the last 22 years to the island and has taught them history and the unique culture of the region.
``We prepared the program to provide opportunities to learn about their roots,'' Jo Soon-yeo, the project manager, told The Korea Times.
The manpower development department under the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province is in charge of the ``roots-finding'' program, which received positive responses from participants, she added.
Last year, 46 people ― 33 from other parts of the nation, nine from the U.S. and four from Japan ― took part in the six-day summer school, Jo said.
They visited tourist attractions scattered around the island such as Mount Halla, which is listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO).
The scenic mountain located in the heart of the island is famous for untouched nature and a variety of biota.
Jeju Island and lava tubes have also been designated as World Heritage Sites since it is scientifically valuable for its extensive system of lateral volcanoes or oreum in Korean.
Along with the beautiful environment, a female diver or haenyeo is another feature of the island.
The visitors learned how hard a life their grandmothers and great grandmothers lived to support their families at the Haenyeo Museum, the project manager said.
Women on the island have been engaged in diving and collecting sea products, which was considered the lowest of jobs, and became the main breadwinners.
However, they reportedly suffer from a chronic headache and neuralgia because they have to spend most of their time at sea enduring high water pressure.
Local schools also give a hand to the government by lecturing on history and culture.
Last year, Cheju National University had the 46 participants experience culture and meditation time in a Buddhist temple, and life onboard a ship, Jo said.
It also introduced a traditional Korean board game of ``yut'' in which four sticks are cast and determine how far a token can be advanced.
The students also tasted Jeju's dishes made of well-known sea products such as abalone, she added.
Thanks to the substantial itinerary, the project manager said participants tend to express hope to have another chance to join the program.
``They told me they wish they could take part again but I have to say this is impossible because the opportunity should be given to those who have yet to visit the motherland,'' she said.
Children of overseas Koreans can apply for the program through local associations of Jeju citizens in foreign countries.
This year, the five-day summer school will begin from July 28 and nine Korean-Americans and nine Korean-Japanese are expected to join it.
Teaching History, Culture
Kyunghee University in northeastern Seoul has also promoted a similar program for the past nine years.
This year, 70 high school students from northern part of the U.S., including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, visited Seoul July 20 to join an 11-day tour and culture experience.
The New York-based Korean-American Youth Assistance Coalition, the co-organizer of the program, picked the participants through thorough screening to help young Korean-Americans establish their identity.
The students visited the Folk Village in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to learn the wisdom and science of their ancestors through hanok, or traditional Korean housees with an under-floor heating system, and handicrafts.
They also spent a day and night experiencing barracks life in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, near the cease-fire line dividing South and North Korea.
The two Koreas are still technically at war as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
The program on barracks life was designed to give the participants an opportunity to learn about the tragic division of the Korean Peninsula, the university said.
They also had time to study about the history of Dokdo in the East Sea and Japan's territorial claims over the islets.
Since Tokyo announced last week the plan to refer to the South Korean-controlled islets as its territory in its revised curriculum handbook for teachers and textbook publishers, angry South Koreans have almost daily held rallies at the heavily-guarded Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
After visiting other provincial cities such as Gyeongju and Jeonju, the students are scheduled to return to the United States on July 30.
Kim Jung-sup, dean of university's Institute of International Education (IIE), said that participants on the program could vividly experience their parents' country which they had only heard of.
He also expressed hope that they would become good leaders of Korean society in the U.S. based on what they have learned here.
