America From Abroad : Pacific Ties: Koreans View Korean-Americans : Round table turns up a complex mix of resentment, admiration, envy--and some friendly advice.

Ask any Korean-American who has ever visited here, and you will learn that Koreans have definite ideas of how Korean-Americans should live, what they owe to their mother country and--if they have any doubts on the subject--who they really are.

“You’re Korean; you should learn to speak Korean,” cabdrivers here often admonish Korean-American visitors.

But Koreans’ real feelings about Korean-Americans are more complex than such remarks suggest, said four Seoul residents who participated in an informal round-table discussion with a Korean-American reporter. Those attitudes are also changing as living standards improve here, they said.

“Koreans have mixed feelings toward Korean-Americans,” commented sociologist Hong Doo Seung, who was consulted for, but did not participate in, the round table. “In one sense Koreans see Korean-Americans as Koreans, not as Americans. But in another sense they feel Korean-Americans are not Koreans, because they do not speak Korean and behave differently from the way Koreans do.”

Another contradiction, Hong said, can be observed in the way Koreans lecture Korean-Americans to become better American citizens while expecting them to promote Korean interests in America.

Round-table participants came from various sectors of Korean society: Cho Soon Sung, a national assemblyman who spent 20 years teaching political science at American universities; Park Choon Ho, an international-law professor at Korea University with an interest in Koreans living abroad; Lee Byung Hoon, executive producer of the Korean MBC network’s “Tenacious Wind,” a popular miniseries about a Korean-American family, and Rhee Joo Young, editor of the Yonsei University English-language student newspaper, the Annals.

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Question: There seems to be the feeling among Koreans that even third-generation Korean-Americans are still “Korean” and therefore, expected to contribute to Korea.

Assemblyman Cho: I think so. The reason is that in Oriental culture, we tend to think of blood ties as being very important. In the United States, if you are born in the country, you are automatically considered a citizen. But in Korea, Japan or China, we are using a principle according to blood. If your parents are Koreans, wherever you are born in the world, you are regarded to be Korean. So, that kind of tradition has lingered on for a long time.

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Q: Do Koreans feel that Korean-Americans should be agents of influence for Korea in the United States?

Cho: Certainly in their hearts they are always saying that any Koreans who are living in the United States should influence Americans in the legislature or whomever it may be so that they can serve for the interest of Korea. . . . I can see the example of (U.S. Rep.) Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar). Now he’s become the champion, the defendant, for the rice issue here. I read in the news that he says America should differentiate Korea from other countries. The reason is that if the rice market is opened in Korea, all Korean agriculture will be destroyed. It means he’s a very effective medium for the Korean government even though he is an American citizen. That kind of influence we need. . . .

I think professors can contribute more than politicians. You know, the Japanese are doing very wisely on that. The reason is that in 1968 the Japan Foundation was organized, and it helped to establish Japan studies centers at 18 different American universities. And they required that these centers hire one Japanese linguist or historian or Japan specialist. They have become effective lobbyists for Japanese industry as well as the Japanese government. This is what I’m advocating for the Korean government. Finally Korea also organized a Korea Foundation. Now we are going to provide about six different universities with about $500,000. . . .

Student editor Rhee: I’m not sure Korean-Americans would really agree to being agents of influence. They probably have their own lives. I think it would be very confusing with their citizenship and their values.

Cho: You’re raising an important issue. (It’s) kind of a conflict of internal values. In my view, Korean-Americans have more information than other Americans who’ve never been exposed to Korea. We’re not asking them to give exaggerated information about Korea. We’re simply asking them to give a true picture, true facts. That alone is a major contribution in my judgment. . . .

A Korean-American boy might say, well, I have to fight for the United States in case there is a war. In that aspect, he may be a truly loyal American citizen, but in another aspect, in social life, when he was mingling around with American friends . . . he may be serving Korea.

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Q: Should Korean-Americans live as Koreans, or should they put down their roots in America and be American?

Professor Park: It depends on the circumstances. If they went there to settle down, then they should settle down there and raise their children. . . . Some of them fly Korean flags on their car. That’s OK, but what should be done first is help their children settle down their affairs, because it’s a very competitive society. If second-generation Korean-Americans are forced to learn Korean, Korean history and Korean culture at the same time that their competitors--American children--are learning math and physics, then the parents are creating the conditions (for their children to be) less competitive.

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Q: How do Koreans feel about Korean-Americans?

Park: It’s difficult to generalize. It depends on the individuals. The most negative observers might say, “Look at these opportunists, just flying back and forth in search of livelihood. When it was hard to live here, they went there. And when things got better here, they come here.” So I think that, at best, they’re not regarded as having done something very respectable or very decent.

On the positive side, where else could poor Koreans have gone to find jobs, to open in 10 years’ time jewelry stores on Wilshire Boulevard, where else could they have gone? . . . What they were able to do has improved the image of the United States among Koreans here. Because if they went to, say, Europe, Britain or any other very conservative, tightly traditional societies, Koreans would have ended up as street sweepers or chestnut vendors or something.

Cho: The lower classes, those who are living in daldongnae (the hills) and all of those poor ghetto areas, they still look at Koreans who are residing in the United States with envious eyes. “Well, if I had the chance, I might go to the United States also,” because of money, and because they still believe job opportunities are greater in the United States than Korea. But from the middle class or upper class, they tend to now say that those guys are opportunists, just coming and going according to their own interests.

Rhee: I don’t think teen-agers and young adults . . . have specific views about Korean-Americans. They’re pretty indifferent to them.

Producer Lee: (Koreans) look at first-generation (Korean-Americans) as having sacrificed a lot to become what they are right now, financially stable. And they see second-generation Korean-Americans as people who are more stable and who try to contribute to American society and to help Korean interests also. So most people look at second-generation Korean-Americans in a positive light.

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Q: Mr. Lee, in the ‘80s, Korean television programs that focused on the negative aspects of Korean-American life, such as poverty, gangs and crime, were very popular among Koreans. Why do you think they were so popular?

Lee: In the ‘60s and ‘70s . . . (Korean-Americans) sent pictures of their lives to Koreans here. They all seemed to be living very well, and everything looked much better than (it) did here. In the mid-’80s . . . Korea became economically stronger, and Koreans took pride in this. At the same time, people in Korea were hearing that Korean-Americans’ lives were not as smooth as they were before.

In the ‘80s, Koreans wanted to look at Korean-Americans as not having everything as kind of a reward to themselves. If you thought somebody was much better off than you, but you find out that they’re not, it kind of soothes your psychological mentality. And because of that, most people wanted to watch those kinds of programs.

We received complaint letters from Korean-Americans saying that the programs were showing too much of the negative viewpoint. In the ‘90s we became aware that we were doing this, and we decided to change our ways of looking at Korean-Americans. And since the L.A. riot, we realized that they were having hardships and that they were of our nationality, and that we should share their problems.

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Q: How are the values, attitudes and behaviors of Korean-Americans different from those of Koreans?

Cho: I have my own boy (William Cho, 31, a Korean-American). He does not want to receive even a single penny from me. I want to give him money, he says, “Daddy, I am not boy! You know, I have to earn my own money.” My daughter is the same thing. I think that’s clearly American values. Because Willie delivered the newspaper, became a cook during high school, and went through an American lifestyle. And this type of independence is a great thing, in my judgment. For example, here all my colleagues, still they are giving away their money to their children. But Willie refuses to accept anything. He says: “Daddy, if you have money, you spend it. I don’t need it.” So you can see very good aspects of the two cultures. But on the other hand he’s not smoking marijuana like American boys and he never did . . . because we were very strict.

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Q: How do Korean students view the behavior of Korean-American students?

Rhee: Some students want to be like Korean-Americans because they look so free and unrestricted, and they’re pretty much open. So some people really want to be like them. But other students, like those students who are in the student movement, are very anti-American. . . .

Most Koreans feel Korean-Americans should adapt more to Korean culture. But many Korean-Americans only come here for a couple of months, (such as) during the (1988) Summer Olympics. So I don’t think it gives them much time to really adjust and learn the language. I’m sure they don’t mean to offend anybody, but in a way, some students get offended by them, because they feel so strongly about being Korean.

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Q: What offends them?

Rhee: It’s just little things, like not being able to speak Korean. When you try to speak to them they can only speak in English.

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Q: Do you think that people of Korean ancestry tend to keep in touch with their home country more than other minorities?

Park: I think the answer depends partly on the turbulent political situation back here. Those who had to leave the country because of some drastic political change will always be looking back at home, about what’s going to happen here. So in Los Angeles, they say there are so many former generals or many former CEOs and politicians in the Korean community.

Cho: In five or six generations, I’m sure, Korean-Americans will be like Japanese (Americans) are now, but this is only the second and third generation. They tend to look back at their home country, where their grandfather used to live. So, our tie with Korean-Americans is much much closer than between Japan and Japanese-Americans, Chinese with Chinese-Americans, and so forth.

Koreans in America

The 1990 census found 798,849 people in the United States, or 0.3%, who called themselves Korean--an increase of 125% over the 1980 figure. California, with 259,941, had the most of any state; the second-ranking state, New York, had 95,648. * Where They Live

Northeast: 23%

Midwest: 14%

South: 19%

West: 44%

* When They Arrived

Number of Korean immigrants admitted to the United States SOURCES: U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service; U.S. Bureau of the Census