Zona Rosa - History - Korean Community

Korean Community

Most of Mexico City’s Korean population of about 9,000 lives in and around Zona Rosa. According to the newspaper Reforma, there are at least 1,000 Koreans living in Zona Rosa proper and about 3,000 total in Colonia Juárez. In Zona Rosa, especially west of Florencia Street, barber shops, restaurants, and Internet cafes with signs in Korean dot the area.

Many Korean residents do not speak Spanish and are relatively isolated from their Mexican neighbors. The area around Hamburgo, Praga, Berna and Biarritz streets has been converted into “Pequeño Seul” (Little Seoul), with Biarritz Street’s residents almost 90% Korean.

The number of Korean residents in the colonia continues to increase even as the number of younger people in general decreases. Most immigrated to Mexico in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, as a result of commercial agreements signed by the Mexican government with Korea and Taiwan, allowing companies such as Daewoo to bring workers over from Asia. However, according to some sources such as Alfredo Romero, professor of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at UNAM, a large percentage of Koreans living in Mexico have questionable immigration status. There have been conflicts between Korean-owned businesses and Mexican neighbors over noise and sanitation issues, with some Mexicans complaining that the Koreans do not want to adapt to Mexican society. Another issue has been legal problems, both with the status of merchandise and the status of employees. A store owned by Koreans was shut down by police for selling imported merchandise of questionable origin in 2002, with 33 workers detained.