
There are several things I noticed in this LA Times article about North Koreans in the Los Angeles area and their relationship with the Korean American community at large.
The reporter writes, “Their skin is a little darker and they are maybe a little shorter than the average Korean.” This is becoming commonplace — a kind of racialization of North Koreans that differentiates their physical traits from South Koreans. The height thing also alludes to the reports indicating that due to malnutrition, North Korean kids are shorter than their counterparts in South Korea. But we’re talking average, and clearly the well-to-do and well-fed in North Korea wouldn’t fit in this picture. Ironically, the picture accompanying the article (see above) features a North Korean man who looks pretty tall and pale to me.
Also, too bad the article doesn’t mention the fact that post-Korean War emigrants from North Korea accounted for a disproportionate number of immigrants who arrived in the US. Including their children, it is said that “North Koreans” account for nearly a quarter of the immigrant Korean community in the US. The article could have been entirely about the dynamics between the two camps of North Koreans: the ones who left long ago and live with a longing and nostalgia for a home they can’t visit, and the ones who left recently and live with a very different relationship to their “homeland.”
And of course, it wouldn’t be a story about North Korean refugees if it didn’t feature several pastors and churches…






