Korean Studies in Mexico: A Survey and Recommendations

Abstract

Some 1,033 Koreans left Jemulpo (Today Inchon) port for Mexico in April 4, 1905, and arrived about 40 days later in Merida, Yucatan. They were first Korean immigrants to Mexico, arranged by a Japanese colonial company but actually sold as slaves to work in twenty-four henequen farms in nearby Chench, Za-Chil, etc. Frustrated with the miserable life there and suffering from the tumultuous Mexican Revolution (1910-1917), many of them attempted to escape and ultimately moved to Cuba. It is estimated that more than two thousand Korean descendants from the first immigrants live in Mexico and about eight hundred in Cuba. The immigration was the first contact between Mexico and Korea.

Keywords

• Corea
• México
• Relaciones
• Recomendaciones