Korean-Americans Looking Elsewhere After Riots

An overwhelming majority of Korean-Americans who lost businesses during last spring’s civil unrest want to re-establish their stores, but nearly three-fourths also want to move their enterprises to another location, according to a new survey released Wednesday.

The Korean American Inter-Agency Council, a coalition of nine community groups, surveyed 1,000 Korean-American riot victims. The group’s findings are based on an analysis of 500 of the completed surveys.

According to the study, 41% of the owners want to convert to another type of business and more than 50% face a “very difficult” financial situation.

Seventy percent of the survey respondents were male and the majority immigrated to this country within the last 10 years and continue to struggle with English proficiency. The language barrier continues to hinder efforts to obtain aid, according to the study.

Medical care and help in paying rent and mortgages were identified as the greatest needs of the group.

Many Korean-American groups have complained that government assistance to riot victims has been lagging. However, the survey’s results indicate that most federal disaster programs were well utilized and accessible to Korean-American victims.

The survey respondents indicated that local government programs such as Medi-Cal, Aid to Families With Dependent Children and General Relief were less available.