Chinese-Korean restaurant owner helps Chinese settle in Korea

By Jhoo Dong-chan

A Chinese-Korean restaurant owner is helping fellow Chinese settlers adjust to Korean society.

Kim Sung-hak, 59, who has operated a Yanbian naengmyeon, or Yanbian cold noodle, restaurant for 14 years in Daelim-dong, southwestern Seoul, is also head of the Chinese immigrants’ community, connecting them with Korean society since 2014. He has also organized a Chinese-Korean folk culture festival for three years in the area.

“Yanbian naengmyeon tastes a bit strange to most Koreans at first. But people all eventually love the dish once getting used to it,” said Kim.

“I believe Chinese-Koreans are just like Yanbian naengmyeon. Cultural differences do exist between Koreans and Chinese-Koreans. And there are also many people with more negative perceptions about us. But if we frequently communicate with each other, I believe we will someday understand our differences and become close friends.”

The third-generation Chinese-Korean first came to Korea in 1995 when he was working as a public servant in China.

“I was a public servant in Jilin Province for 10 years after graduating from a college in China, and then visited Korea for the first time when the local authorities in Yanbian set up a presence in Seoul in 1995,” Kim said.

“I helped Chinese-Koreans with immigration issues in Korea, and assisted Korean companies’ investments in China. It was also the time when many undocumented Chinese people came to Korea for employment. I had to work like a bee, but my job was very rewarding.”

Kim then decided to start his own business in Korea, and opened the naengmyeon restaurant in Jangan-dong, eastern Seoul, 2001.

His restaurant shortly became popular especially among Chinese-Koreans who missed their home cuisines. In 2002, Kim opened his second restaurant in Daelim-dong, where a small Chinatown is now located.

“When I opened the second branch in Daelim-dong, there was no Chinatown or Chinese-Korean population in the area. Due to its advantageous location with convenient public transportation, however, many Chinese-Koreans have since started to live in the area to form some kind of Chinatown,” said Kim.

Due to his long experience with Korean society, fellow Chinese-Korean business operators in the area selected Kim as the first head of their Chinese-Korean community in 2014.

In a bid to expand friendship between Chinese-Koreans and locals, Kim has held a Chinese-Korean folk culture festival since 2014 where more than 40,000 people visit every year.

“It is inevitable that we will see more Chinese-Koreans here in the future. I hope we further work together to learn our differences and eradicate erroneous bias towards each other,” Kim said.