FEATURE
Professor Timothy Lim's research emphasized in Top 10 Migration Issues of 2007

Issue #10: South Korea Opens Its Arms

"Sensitive to having too many outsiders, prosperous Asian countries generally have relied on temporary worker programs — with few rights for migrants — to fill gaps in their labor markets. With its historically diverse population, Singapore is the main exception as it sees migrants as a demographic necessity and courts highly skilled migrants....



Civil society has played an important role in changing South Korea’s attitude toward immigrants. In fact, political scientist Timothy C. Lim has written that the community of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) focused on migrant worker issues "has become a firmly entrenched and highly credible social force. The community has gradually transformed the issue of migrant labor rights into an issue of fundamental human rights and social justice."

By 2006, as Lim has noted, NGOs had already shifted their attention to the permanent settlement issue. A detention center fire in February that killed nine (eight Chinese nationals and one Uzbek) and injured 18 brought more attention to migrants’ situation, but many substantive changes were already in motion."

To read the whole story, click here.

ckaks in the news

CKAKS and its faculty strive to provide relevant and useful information to the general public about Korean-American and Korean issues. Most of our press releases in the early 2000s were based on our analysis of census data, but the faculty of CKAKS have also provided insight into and analysis of contemporary events to a wide range of mainstream news sources--in the United States, Korea, Japan, and other countries. Journalists and others are encouraged to contact us directly with questions. Please check our contact page for further information.

census reports on korean americans

Most CKAKS' press releases derive from our work on the census; the press releases are usually accompanied by news conferences and have been widely reported on by the Korean press, both electronic and print, in the United States and in Korea. The press releases that follow are listed in chronological order • A full list of tables and other data is available on our Census Data page.

click on to download data, if available.

September 12-14, 2003 (Conference presentation, San Francisco). Social and Economic Indicators by Race and Asian Ethnic Group and Korean Population Density Maps for Five Metropolitan Areas: (1) Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange; (2) New York-NJ-Long Island; (3) Washington-Balitmore; (4) San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose; and (5) Chicago-Gary-Kenosha (Powerpoint slideshow containing 62 tables and 5 color maps)
August 14, 2003: KAC-Orange County Public Forum--Orange County Race and Ethnic Profile: Social and Economic Data, 2000 (MS PowerPoint presentation; includes tables and color maps).
July 18, 2003: Socio-Economic Indicators, Language Use, Linguistically Isolated Language Environment, 2000. Tables and Highlights.
July 2, 2003: "Population Change by Race and Ethnicity, 1990-2000 USA, California, Southern California, LA County, Orange County, Koreatown." Tables (6) and Highlights.
June 4, 2003: "Education Achievement, Employment, Income and Citizenship,2000." Tables (7) and Highlights
November 22, 2002: "Korean Employment, Poverty, and Naturalization in the United States." Tables and Highlights.
July 8, 2002: "Socioeconomic Indicators by Race and Ethnicity." Tables (10) and Highlights.
May 29, 2002: "Population by Ancestry Group, Los Angeles City and Los Angeles County, 1990-2000." Tables and Highlights.
April 24, 2002: "Family, Marital Status, Languages Spoken at Home, Citizenship Status by Ethnic Groups, 2000, U.S., Southern California, Los Angeles County, Koreatown." Tables and Highlights.
March 13, 2002: "Sex Imbalance in the Age Structure of Korean Immigrants: 1996-2000." Tables and Highlights.
December 14, 2001: "Three Categories of Asian Ethnic Groups by States, 2000." Tables and Highlights
October 16, 2001: "Koreatown Maps drawn from the Census 2000 Census Tract Data on Koreans." Maps, Tables and Highlights.
September 5, 2001: "New Boundaries for ‘Koreatown’ based on the Ethnic and Racial Data from the Census 2000 Block Data," Maps, Tables and Highlights.

ckaks faculty in the news

Recent newspaper columns by CKAKS faculty

"Party Politics in Korea," part of theKorea Herald's Insight into Korea series marking the 20th Anniversary of Korean democracy. Republished in Insight into Korea: Understanding the Challenges of the 21st Century (Seoul: Korea Herald Media, 2008)

"Hines Ward and Korean Identity," Korea Times, April 4, 2006. By Timothy Lim.

"Rallying for Migrant Workers," Korea Herald, February 22, 2006. By Timothy Lim.

Below are a few news media reports that refer to research done by CKAKS and its faculty, or which reflects faculty expertise on Korea-related issues.

• "Behind Koreans' Worries About U.S. Beef." Story in US News & World Reports (June 17, 2008) includes quotes from e-mail interview.
• "Top Ten Migration Issues of 2007." Feature story features quotes from Timothy Lim's research on transnational worker migration to Korea (December 2007).
• "Looking for solutions through examining sex trade conditions of Koreans," interview with Korea Times (Los Angeles edition, July 23, 2007) on Prof. Lim's trafficking research.
• Korea Times article (July 17, 2006) featuring Timothy Lim's research on human trafficking
• Press articles on Prof. Lim's paper, "The Smuggling and Trafficking of Korean Women in the United States: A Preliminary Study," appeared in the Hanguk Ilbo, Munhwa Ilbo, Kyonghyang Ilbo, and Chungang Ilbo and other Korean news sources.
• "Scattered by Strong: Korean American Results from the 2000 Census," by Sam Chu Lin, main feature story AsianWeek • This story is based almost entirely on Dr. Yu's recent analysis of the 2000 Census data on Korean Americans. [If link is expired or broken, download PDF file of article]
• "Fractured Korean Dream," by Lee Chang-sup (Business Editor), editorial in the Korea Times (April 23, 2003) • Dr. Lim is quoted extensively regarding his research on transnational worker migration to South Korea. [If link is expired or broken, download PDF file of article--Korean language tool kit required to view article in Adobe]
• "Site of Conflict Now a Study in Stalemate," by Helen Gao, article in the Los Angeles Daily News on the 50th Anniversary of the Korean War (July 27, 2003) • Dr. Lim is quoted with regard to current US-North Korean relations. [Note: Article is a PDF copy of the original]