The Sydney Korean community and the ‘IMF drifting people’

Most Korean immigrants in Australia live in Sydney. Many run small businesses and a large proportion depend on tourism from Korea or on providing services to international students from Korea. The Korean economic crisis has therefore had a serious effect on the viability of many businesses within Sydney’s Korean-Australian community. These economic difficulties have been compounded by job competition from Korean nationals who have come to Australia on temporary visas since the crisis and who look for work within the Korean community in Sydney and on Australian farms. (Many of these temporary immigrants appear to be working illegally.) The locals call them ‘the IMF drifting people’; their working and living conditions are grim and their presence appears to be causing tensions within the established Korean community. Copyright. Monash University and the author/s