Korean community in the society of immigrants in Spain: its prestige and trend

스페인 이민자 사회 내 한인공동체의 위상과 현황

Nowadays migrations between the countries are getting each day more active and a mixture of people with different cultural backgrounds strengthens the hybridism, whereupon the point of view on the migration of Koreans has been changed from a diasporan perspective to an transnational one. The expansion of the transnationalism affects the identity of the subsequent generations of the immigration giving way to a psychologically deterritorialized social identity, which is an important consideration in the study of subsequent generations of the immigration. This study examined the Korean immigration history and the current status of the Korean community in Spain since the 1960s. The early immigrants like fishing vessel crew members, instructors of Taekwondo, chicken sexers who, despite the limits of foreigners in Spain, went to find out the source of life with no hesitation, overcame the difficulties of the early settlers and finally managed to achieve local success. Current history of immigration that began in the mid-1960s went through the maturity during the 1970s and 80s and the Koreans in Spain these days, who have undergone differentiation in the occupational structure because of the crisis of pelagic fisheries, face new challenges due to changes in the environment of the country they reside. The Korean community is regarded as an 'exemplary minority group (Model Minority)' even though it is a minority group in number. Now that the interest for overseas Koreans is higher than ever at home and abroad, due to the economic growth of the Republic of Korea, the spread of its cultural influence -the Korean Wave as proof-, and the overseas Koreans suffrage conducted, the research of the Korean residents in Spain will be important as an advanced research of an unexplored field, as well as an opportunity to broaden the horizons of the existing study area that has mainly dealt with major regions only.