Koreans in South Africa - History

History

South Africa had considered importing labourers from Korea as early as 1903 in order to control rising mining wages, but eventually decided on Chinese workers instead. The Immigration Act of 1913 classified all Asians as "prohibited immigrants", thus preventing them from settling in the country or conducting commercial activities there. In 1930, when then-Minister of the Interior D. F. Malan made the decision to exclude Japanese from the "prohibited immigrants" category as defined by the 1913 Act, Koreans remained prohibited immigrants, though Jan Smuts angrily protested that the exemption represented a precedent for opening the door to Koreans and Chinese as well. In fact, it came to pass as Smuts predicted: Koreans were removed from the "prohibited immigrants" category in the 1960s.

However, the Korean community in South Africa only really began to take shape after the 1992 establishment of relations between South Korea and South Africa. South Korean companies began sending expatriate employees and their families to the country, and international students found themselves able to enrol in South African universities. A number of independent migrants came as well; they typically set up small businesses in the import/export, hospitality, car repair, and photography sectors.