The community
In 2001 almost 70% of New Zealand’s Koreans lived in the Auckland area, with 16% in Christchurch and others scattered throughout the country. Most were used to living in apartments in high-rise blocks. In New Zealand a city lifestyle suited them, as it offered access to all the necessities and to community networks.
The majority of Korean immigrants held tertiary qualifications and were in their thirties and forties, meeting the immigration criteria. Some chain migration occurred as earlier arrivals sent home favourable reports to friends and relations – including elderly parents – who then came out to join them.
On arrival most families had sufficient funds to buy houses in relatively affluent suburbs such as Auckland’s North Shore which, with its Korean churches, soon held an active community. By 2001, in North Shore City, Korean was the second most common language after English.
Employment
Finding a suitable job was the greatest challenge. Those who arrived in the early 1990s, when Korea’s economy was booming, were unwilling to take just any job on arrival in New Zealand. Not finding work in their areas of expertise, some established small businesses with their own funds. The income from these enterprises often augmented earnings from investments. In 1996 over 50% of Korean immigrants in New Zealand were either underemployed or unemployed. By 2001 the employment rate had risen, but those in full-time work were still mainly engaged in small-scale businesses serving the Korean community.
Professional workers also focused on the community: there were real estate agents, lawyers and bank employees all catering for Koreans. Popular ethnic businesses were grocery stores, travel agencies, restaurants, and souvenir shops for Korean tourists. In the mid-1990s some immigrants serviced a short-lived boom in the Korean tourist market. The boom ended in 1997 when a foreign exchange crisis rocked the Korean economy. The popularity of tourism has been revived and the influx of Korean tourists is strong. In terms of per capita spending per day, Korean tourists are among the highest.
In the early 2000s many Koreans were in the process of settling; very few were fully integrated into mainstream society. The small numbers who had come before 1991 tended to have higher employment rates and incomes than later arrivals.
Having spent more time in the country, the 1990s wave of immigrants started to move into professional jobs. Businesses too began to serve the wider community. In Auckland, Korean greenhouses and market gardens were supplying the city with vegetables. Laundries and dairies sprang up in urban areas. Some Koreans who had moved north to Whāngārei became involved in businesses such as sawmilling and golf driving ranges.
Meant for bigger things
Alex Kim was a marketing manager for Chanel cosmetics in Seoul. Arriving in Auckland in the early 1990s, he opened a shop called The Sweet Factory. He then moved to Whāngārei, where he helped found the Immanuel Church.
‘I was trying to purchase a lobster factory … but God had a different plan for me. He wanted me to come here and set up the church.’ 1
Culture
Wherever they have settled, Koreans have helped boost Catholic and Presbyterian congregations. In 2001 over half of New Zealand Koreans were Christians, with Buddhists a small minority. Particularly on Auckland’s North Shore, Korean churches were established in existing church buildings.
Korean newspapers and magazines such as the New Korea Herald, the New Zealand Times and Korea Town have been circulating in Auckland since the 1990s. Restaurants also appeared, serving up traditional fare such as pulgogi and kimchi.
The community gathers on national days, including 1 March, which marks the Korean Independence Movement’s demonstration against the Japanese in 1919. In 2002 the celebrations in Christchurch featured percussionists and solos on the haegum (two-string fiddle) and gayageum (12-string zither).
Many Koreans love golf. In 2002, 13-year-old Jae An from Rotorua became the youngest person to qualify for the New Zealand Open, where he impressed such luminaries as Tiger Woods.
Footnotes
- Simon Collins, ‘Korean migrants drift north.’ Weekend Herald, 28–29 September 2002, p. B7. › Back
