Amersian Experience

During the period of World War 2, Korea had overcome many hardships. In 1945, Korea was freed from Japanese imperialism as a result of American atomic bombs which were dropped in Japan. But shortly after in 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south”(History Com Staff, 2017). In order to fight against the North Korean forces, who were aided by the government of Soviet Unions, American troops were sent to South Korea's aid to push the North Korean army back. North and South Korea still remain divided presently because of this war. The onset of this war led to American soldiers being stations around South Korea. This led to camptowns, areas that were high in prostitution, to be established in these areas. This resulted in the births of many mix raced children born to single Korean mothers.

Outbreak of Koren War

The Peak of Amerasian Births

In the middle of Korean War, there was an enormous amount of children being born between US men and Korean women. The majority of the men were US servicemen. The kids between them are refereed to as “Amerasian”. The congressional legislation in the 1980s indicated that term means “children of women of specified Asian nations and American men who were born during a certain time period. More generally, however, the term is often used colloquially to describe children of non-Asian U.S. citizens and Asian nationals”. (R.C. Lutz, 2017). Japanese, Vietnamese, Pilipino, and Chinese women are included in this interracial marriage. When we refer to Amerasians on this website, we will be refering exclusively to Korean Amerasians born from US servicemen and Korean women.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Amerasian children were abandoned and faced discrimination as mixed race orphans in a country that strongly values a homogeneous society. The expert specialized in Korean American Timothy Lim said, “The ill treatment of Amerasians was, as Mary Lee and others have argued, exacerbated by a patriarchal and hyper-masculine sense of national identity: Amerasian children were associated with the “shame” and “humiliation” of dominant Western power conquering and abusing Korean women for sexual pleasure” (Timothy, 2009).As a result of this stereotype, the amerasian children were treated as if they were aliens, such as being bullied at school in Korea. On top of that, older generations of Koreans considered Amerasian children to be foreign enemies and had harsh feelings about the foreign domination of Korea.

Unexpcted Blame Against Amerasian

Because Amerasians seemed to be viewed in a negative way, we wanted to explore some of the more positive aspects of their existence. Despite the many harsh conditions and feelings they experienced, some of the Korean Amerisians made efforts to create the better society for future Korean Americans. Though they faced many heartbreaking incidents throughout their lives, the presence of them caused a positive impact on Korean American community including becoming a catalyst for transnational adoption for Korean Americans and important Korean amerasian people who have aided the community with programs aimed at helping Korean adoptees find their biological families, assisting Korean Americans in becoming more familiar with the home country and culture, as well as raising awareness about biracial discrimination.

Amersian Experience​

Unexpcted Blame Against Amerasian

Amerasian's Innovation

Amersian Experience