An estimated 2.1 million ethnic Koreans live in the U.S., either because they moved or were born there, the Center for Immigration Studies and the Korean American Association of Greater New York said Thursday. The figure includes legal immigrants, the second- and third-generation immigrants and illegal residents.
The number of Koreans who emigrated to the U.S. since 1941 stood at 903,000, 672,000 of them still alive as of 2005, the CIS said. The New York Times quoted the center as saying if the number of ethnic Koreans living illegally in the U.S. is included, the number of first-generation Korean immigrants stood at some 982,818, a huge increase from the 865,102 estimated in 2000.
The 2 million-plus figure takes into account first-generation immigrants who came to the U.S. legally, first-generation immigrants who ended up as illegal residents, second- and third-generation immigrants, students, temporary immigrants and refugees, Korean-American organizations estimated.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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