Koreans in France

Korean migration to France began in 1919, when the government of France issued work permits to 35 Korean migrant labourers.[4] From a community of just 3,310 in 1988, their numbers more than tripled by 2000, and then grew a further 30% by 2007.[5][6] However, from 2009 to 2011, their population shrank by 14%.[3] The vast majority live in Paris — about two-thirds, according to 2011 data, compared with four-fifths a decade before — with the largest concentrations in the 15th arrondissement. There are more than twice as many women as men; the population has grown more gender-imbalanced as compared to a decade prior.[7][3] Unlike in the United States or Canada, with their large Korean American and Korean Canadian communities, few Koreans in France seek to naturalise as French citizens.[8] Among all South Korean nationals or former nationals in France, 786 (6%) have become French citizens, 2,268 (18%) are permanent residents, 6,325 (50%) are international students, and the remaining 3,305 (26%) hold other kinds of visas.[3]

Aside from South Korean expatriates, children adopted from Korea into French families form another portion of France's Korean population; most were adopted at between ages three and nine.[9] The number of North Korean refugees has also been on the rise.[10]

Koreans in France are served by five Korean-language weekend schools, the oldest and largest of which is the Paris Hangul School, established 18 August 1974; it enrolled 170 students as of 2007.[11] Four others, in Villeurbanne, Grenoble, Strasbourg, and Toulouse, were established between 1994 and 2000; they enrolled a further 78 students.[12][13][14][15] A significant number also attend French universities; in total, about half of the Korean population in France are estimated to be students, falling from two-thirds a decade ago.[7][3]

Not many French people know that their country has a Korean community at all.[4] In many cases, Koreans are mistaken for Chinese and thus lumped in as economic refugees.[16]

As of 2001, only about 200 of the South Koreans in France were members of internationally married couples consisting of a South Korean partner and a French partner.[7] Such couples experienced a number of cultural conflicts, most commonly over the rigour of their children's education.[8]

Portrayals in popular culture of Koreans in France include the 2004 South Korean television series Lovers in Paris; its popularity has resulted in an increase in the number of Korean tourists visiting France.[4] A more recent one is Hong Sang-soo's 2008 film Night and Day.[17]

• Myung-whun Chung, Seoul-born Korean American, director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
• Jean-Baptiste Kim, former unofficial North Korean spokesman[18]
• Fleur Pellerin, Ministry of Culture[19]
• Jean-Vincent Placé, French politician[20]
• Daul Kim, Korean model
• Cédric O, French politician
• Delphine O, French politician
• Pom Klementieff, actress
• Ysabelle Lacamp, French novelist, singer and actress

• French people in Korea

• Lim, Young-hee (November 2004), "History of Koreans in France", International Conference on Korean Historical Materials and the History of Koreans in Europe, University of Bonn

• Le Journal Hanweekly, a newspaper aimed at Koreans in France