From Korea to Virginia

The United States is known as a nation of immigrants with millions of people migrating to the country every year. Many of these migrants share a similar story of coming for one opportunity or another, whether economic or otherwise. Very few have as unique a story as Amelia Kim. I chose to interview Amelia for the Immigrant Stories Project after I learned about her story through a mutual friend. 

In 2014, Amelia immigrated to the United States from Seoul, South Korea with just her older sister when the two were 11 and 15 respectively.  Their parents believed that educational opportunities in the U.S. would better serve the two girls so they sent Amelia and her sister to live with their aunt’s family in Virginia. 

When Amelia first arrived in the U.S. she had some familiarity with the English language but was not a fluent speaker. It was a big change for her to go from a predominantly Korean-speaking society to having to learn and speak English which has a completely different alphabet, grammar, and syntax from Korean. Additionally, Amelia changed her name from her Korean name, Soeun to her confirmation name, Amelia which was more American-sounding and easier for non-Koreans to pronounce. 

Amelia and her sister were also enrolled in a small K-12 Christian private school so the two of them could attend school together and get used to going to school in the U.S. Amelia came from a Catholic religious background, so she was well accustomed to Christianity, but when it came time for her to start high school she transferred the St. Paul VI High School (PVI) in Chantilly, VA. After graduating from PVI, Amelia enrolled at the University of Maryland to study graphic design. 

In April of 2023, Amelia was awarded a green card which granted her permanent resident status in the United States. Although this means that she never has to leave the U.S., Amelia may move back to Korea because her home country has better social welfare programs — namely health care — than the United States. Her parents are planning on giving up their permanent resident status and moving back to Korea permanently for these same reasons.

Korean immigration to the United States began en mass in the early 1900s but significantly increased in the mid-1900s following the Korean War. Today, roughly 2 million South Koreans are living in the United States, making them the tenth-largest immigrant group in the U.S. When Amelia and her sister migrated to America, they moved to Virginia which is home to more than 89,000 Korean-Americans. This would not have been possible if it were not for the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act. Before 1965, immigration to the United States primarily originated from Eastern and Southern European countries with strict immigration quotas preventing mass immigration from countries in Asia and Latin America. This all changed when the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act abolished quotas on Asian immigration. Over the next 20 years, Asian immigration increased from 9% to over 40% of the total immigrant population.

While Amelia’s experience immigrating to the United States is similar to historical immigration patterns, she has quite a unique story. For the most part, foreign-born children are brought to the United States by their parents who are in search of some sort of opportunity that is not available in their home country. On the contrary, Amelia and her sister immigrated to the U.S. whilst their parents remained in Korea. Amelia came to the U.S. because her family felt that the competitive nature of Korea’s education system was not suitable for her and her sister and that the U.S. had a more suitable education system. According to Amelia, education in South Korea involves much more than attending school. Many Korean children attend Hagwon which are after-school academies designed to further improve a student’s grade and prepare them for college. Hagwons are extremely competitive and are designed to improve students’ scores on the College Scholastic Ability Test, Korea’s equivalent of the SAT or ACT. According to the OECD Better Life Index, 89% of South Koreans between ages 25 and 64 have completed upper secondary education, which is higher than the OECD average of 79% and the United State’s at roughly 50%. Amelia’s mother felt that the Korean schooling process was too daunting and so the girls were off to the United States. In the migratory process, there are often push factors that influence emigration and pull factors that promote immigration. In Amelia and her sister’s case, the push factor of an overly competitive education system in South Korea and the pull factor of new educational opportunities in the United States were the catalysts for their migration.

Immigrant networks are vital to encouraging migration and the subsequent formation of immigrant communities in the new country. Despite the family not migrating with the girls, connections to other immigrants were still vital to Amelia’s ability to migrate to the United States. Amelia’s aunt had immigrated to the U.S. with her family prior to the girls moving there which provided Amelia and her sister with a place to live and people with experience migrating to and integrating into the U.S. to guide their transition. The aunt also played a key role in the migratory process. By providing feedback in the form of the idea for the girls to immigrate to the United States, Amelia’s aunt played a role in the parent’s decision to send Amelia and her sister to the United States. She had first-hand experience with the education system and provided the girls with the necessary information to help them adjust to life in the U.S.

Upon arrival in the U.S., Amelia and her sister enrolled in a Christian school. Their family in Korea was Catholic so they were familiar with Christianity which provided them with some familiarity when adjusting to America. Eventually, Amelia transferred to a Catholic private school which was more familiar to her upbringing. Catholicism is often regarded as a European-dominant religion but there is a sizeable Catholic population in Asia that dates back to the 16th century, long before Catholicism and Christianity made their way to North America. While the United States does not have an official religion and prides itself on its Constitutional right to freedom of religion, certain religious groups are looked more favorably upon than others. Christianity has been the predominant religion throughout American history and membership in Christian religious groups such as the Catholic church has helped immigrants integrate into American society. I learned from one of Amelia’s high school friends that Amelia became good friends with other foreign-born students at PVI. While they did not have the same migration story and had different national origins, they shared common experiences immigrating to the U.S.

A common barrier to integration and membership in American society is the ability to speak the English language. Amelia had some knowledge of the language while growing up in South Korea but was not fluent in the language. When she came to the U.S., it became a necessity for her to learn English if she was to attend school and make friends. Amelia also changed her name. Her real name, Soeun, is a fairly common name for Korean women but is difficult for people to say in the U.S. Instead, she chooses to go by her confirmation name, Amelia, which is more normative for English speakers.

Another common barrier to membership in the United States is the issue of legality. When Amelia came to the U.S., she had a visa — likely the F1 visa which is for full-time students. In the past year, Amelia and her family have been awarded a green card which grants them permanent resident status. Amelia still has to deal with the downsides of being an immigrant despite her green card status. She is currently a sophomore at the University of Maryland and studies Graphic Design. Despite living in the United States for nearly a decade, Amelia is not an American citizen and has to pay an International student tuition rate which is much more expensive than if she paid the normal tuition rate. While not fully American citizens, Amelia and her family can remain in the country for as long as they want, but this may not be Amelia’s plan. Amelia’s parents have lived in the U.S. for periods of time but have since returned to South Korea. When people migrate to a new country, it becomes important for them to retain ties to the original country. This is often referred to as feedback which can come in the form of sending money back home if a person is working to support their family or they can also share ideas and fuel further migration. Amelia’s aunt was the first of their family to migrate to the U.S. and laid the groundwork for the girls to migrate. As said before, the girls moved to the U.S. without their parents. Eventually, the parents moved to the U.S. with the girls, but not on a permanent basis. Amelia and her parents return to Korea fairly frequently which helps to retain the ties with their homeland.

Amelia said that she is unsure if she will remain in the United States permanently or return to live in South Korea. She cited how expensive American healthcare is as a reason she may return to Korea. In the U.S., most people purchase private health insurance which carries expensive insurance premiums and medical bills. South Korea’s National Health Insurance is regarded as one of the best in the world and not nearly as expensive as American healthcare. 

According to World-Systems Theory, countries can be classified into three categories: the core, semi-periphery, and the periphery. The core countries are typically the wealthiest and have the most global power. Periphery countries are often underdeveloped and are usually the source of exported cheap labor for the core countries. South Korea would have been considered a periphery country half a century ago, but has solidified itself as a semi-periphery country and could be reclassified as a core country in the next few decades. Since the Korean War, South Korea has become a hotbed for industrialization and is one of the global leaders in manufacturing. Along with these economic improvements came improvements to education and healthcare among other indicators of an increasing quality of life. Amelia also suggested that she may move back to Korea to work for a few years. 66% of Koreans between the ages of 15 and 64 are employed which is comparable to the United States at 67%. Unfortunately, over 10% of Koreans work long hours with some reporting that they worked as much as 69 hours a week.

The migratory process is often viewed as a self-feeding process with immigrant communities being established in a new country and influencing subsequent generations of migration, however, this can decrease over time due to diminishing differences between the quality of life in the home country and the new country. In some sectors of Korean life, the situation is better in South Korea than in the United States which invalidates the rationale for some to migrate to the states. We are currently seeing rapid development in South Korea which is making Koreans’ decisions to migrate to the United States or another country less likely or fruitful than remaining in the homeland. 

Despite the reasons for her to consider moving back to South Korea, Amelia said that she can’t imagine not living in the United States. Over the course of her life in the U.S., she’s made friends and integrated into American society in ways that would make it hard for anyone to want to leave their new home country.

Works Cited

Esterline, Cecilia, and Jeanne Batalove. “Korean Immigrants in the United States.” Migration Policy Institute, 14 April 2022, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/korean-immigrants-united-states#:~:text=Immigration%20from%20the%20Korean%20peninsula,as%20the%20Korean%20War%20Brides.

Kim, Hyung Sook and Pyong Gap Min. “The Post-1965 Korean Immigrants: Their Characteristics and Settlement Patterns.” Korea Journal of Population and Development, vol. 21, no. 2, 1992, pp. 121-143.

“Korea.” OECD Better Life Index, https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/korea/.