Koreans in the Philippines

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The Philippines is the host country of the largest Korean community in Southeast Asia (numbering between 50,000 to 70,000). Among the first Korean immigrants came to the Philippines after the second World War, in search of better living conditions. The presence of the Korean community in the Philippines since then, however, had been only slightly felt in Philippine society until the late 1980s, when the "Korean Wave" (the mass influx of Korean tourists and immigrants) started.

Few Koreans in the country inter-married with Filipinos, a pattern that still continues, now contributing to the highly diversified ethnic population of Philippines.

There are well over 50,000 Koreans living in the Philippines today. The Korea Towns in both BF Homes Parañaque and BF Homes Quezon City as well as in Makati are considerably large.

Because of an existing (although slowly disappearing) barrier in regards to language and even dietary preferences, the Korean community is usually seen as a closed group by many Filipinos. Interaction between the two groups however is increasing, a good example of which is rise in popularity of Sandara Park, a Korean singer and actress on Philippine television. There are many Korean Christian churches scattered all over Metro Manila and other large cities in the Philippines which serve as centers of not only religious but social activities within the Korean community as well.

At least 524,000 Koreans visitors came to the Philippines in 2005 for business, education, and/or leisure purposes. Many Koreans living in the Philippines say the standard of living in the country is significantly cheaper than in South Korea including education and housing. The recent influx of Koreans has been so great that 65% of the 155,744 foreigners who visited Boracay, the Philippines' most popular tourist attraction, were Koreans. A huge percentage of Korean tourists enroll in a short-term English language course to cope with Korea's growing demand for English proficiency.

Outside Metro Manila, there are large numbers of Koreans residing in Baguio, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, Dumaguete and Angeles.

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