Little Seoul in Mexico City?.
I encountered Pequeña Seoul (Little Seoul) accidentally, when I ended up accidentally getting my Airbnb there, a few months ago. Little did I realize that there is a long history of Korean migration (way before the current crop of Korean MNCs). Here are some characters including second and third gen Korean-Mexicans, who define what it means to be Korean-Mexican, in all its complexity.
Meet Gabrielle Yu
Gabrielle Yu’s grandfather came to Mexico, during the Korean Revolution, to collect money for his country men. He stayed back, and as a third-gen Korean-Mexican, Gabrielle is now making sense of what that move meant for him and his generation of Koreans.
Remnants of the past - precious reminders of where Gabrielle came from…
Documents related to Gabrielle’s family…
Gabrielle points out the difficulties that Koreans faced when the first wave migrated, under very difficult circumstances and the gradual integration into Mexican society
There is also a “new-wave” of Koreans migrating, due to increased investments in technology, manufacturing. However, there are stark differences in their experiences and the first-wave of migrants.
One can see restaurants, Korean bakeries and more, as one walks around this neighborhood, that borders Zona Rosa
This generation has the “K-pop” advantage. There is a large section of Mexican society that loves the new-found land of Korea. However, stereotypes abound too…