ANNANDALE, Virgina, 14 April 2004 — Anti-American sentiment may have deepened in South Korea, but it has not deterred Koreans from flocking to study, work or live in the United States.

In Annandale, just south of Washington, Koreans occupy large blocks of buildings reserved for businesses and form the biggest Asian group in schools. Korean bakeries, flower shops, book stores, medical clinics and video stores dot the bustling city. The Korean component is conspicuous also in nearly every church. “The Korean community has grown so fast and Annandale is growing as a Korean town now,” said Kim Young- keun, the president of the Korean-American Association of the Washington Metropolitan Area, in an interview at his busy real estate office in the heart of the city.

“Most Koreans come here for education, aside from the almost similar weather back home and their penchant to live within cities,” said Kim, who made the United States his permanent home after emigrating here in 1981 for studies.

Just after he obtained his first US degree, Kim was forced to go into business to support two brothers whom he wooed to study here after their father died back home. One of them today is a university professor in North Carolina State University and the other an equally successful lawyer in the state of Missouri. “Many of the Koreans are hardworking and they have succeeded in carving their own niche in the US,” he said.

The United States has more ethnic Koreans than any country outside the Korean peninsula. More than two million Koreans are in the United States, or almost 40 percent of all Koreans living overseas.

The latest US Census in 2000 said 1.07 million Koreans live in the United States, but Park Won-sup of the South Korean Embassy in Washington said their own survey undertaken last year showed about 2.1 million Koreans.

“It’s just a rough survey coordinated by our consuls-general and not based on a scientific nature,” Park said.

Koreans predominantly reside in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago but many have begun moving around Washington, DC in recent years. In Annandale, for example, Koreans make up 80 percent of clients of most businesses, Kim said.

“Many of them come here because Fairfax County (which incorporates Annandale), as well as Montgomery County have one of the best public schools in the United States,” he said.

But the paradox is that more Koreans come to the United States despite rising anti-Americanism at home. A January published poll showed Koreans regard America as a more serious threat to peace than their northern Stalinist neighbor and Koreans viewed North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il as only slightly more menacing to peace than US President George W. Bush.

“Young South Koreans believe the arrogant behavior of the United States reflects its desire to achieve global hegemony,” said James Matray of the California State University, in a recent commentary entitled “South Koreans think of the United States as a global bully.”

But South Korea’s Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said the persistently held perception of young Koreans about the US-Korea alliance should be considered “in the context” that they did not experience the Korean War.

Two thirds of the Korean population are now under the age of 40, meaning a large number did not go through the war in the early 1950s, he said.

The alliance “arose from the precious bloodshed by young Americans and Koreans during the Korean War,” Ban said.

More than 30,000 US servicemen reportedly died in the war, when American and other UN forces intervened to defend South Korea from North Korean attacks supported by the Chinese.

Since then, the United States has maintained a heavy military presence in South Korea. Bilateral trade has also blossomed, with South Korea now the seventh largest trading partner of the United States, with total trade at $57 billion.

“Right now the young Korean minds are changing little by little,” Kim of the Korean-American association said. “They want to stand on their own feet but I don’t think that this is the right idea.”

Unlike the first wave of Korean emigrants in the United States, who often owned dry cleaners, grocery stores or liquor shops, their children have become successful professionals such as lawyers, doctors and computer specialists. The second-generation Korean-Americans are also eyeing political positions, with about 40 Korean-Americans working for members of the US House of Representatives and another 30 for senators.

“Hopefully in 10 to 15 years, we can have a Korean-American as a congressman or senator,” Kim said.