Retyped by Dr. Anna Charr Kim
3/16/01
Korean American Writings
"Koreans in Mexico"
By Gail Whang Desmond   4/75
It was through a very gradual process and at times, by chance that I came to
know the history of the Korean people in Mexico.   Four years ago I noticed in a local
San Francisco Korean newspaper that a branch of the Korean National Association
existed in Mexico City.   It was through this branch that I met a past president, Mr. Jose'
Sanchez Pak, who spent hours talking with me about the history of the Koreans in
Mexico.   He also accompanied me and my family on a trip of 1,000 miles from Mexico
City to Lepan, Yucatan (a village where he had worked for eleven years, nearly thirty
year ago) in order that we could experience what it was like in those days when he was a
boy cutting the spiny leaves of the henequen plant.   Without his immense contribution,
this article could not have been written.
In 1974, at the age of seventy, Jose' Sanchez Pak completed his book, Memories,
De La Vida Y Ohra De Los Cpregnos En Mexico Desde Yucatan, (Memories of the Life
and Work of the Koreans in Mexico from their arrival in the Yucatan to the Present)
which tells of the experiences of the Koreans through his eyes.
The following is a brief account of the experience of the 1,030 Koreans who
immigrated to Mexico in 1905.
Historical Background
Mexico, in 1905, was in the 30th year of the 'Vorfiriata."   This was the period of
rule by the military dictator, General Porfirio Diaz.   At that time much of Mexico was
divided into haciendas (large ranches) which were owned by members of the ruling class.
Life for the workers on the haciendas was miserable, the hours were long, the work back-
breaking, the pay negligible, but worst of all, the worker was subject absolutely to every
whim of the hacienda owner.   It was into these inhuman conditions tha the Koreans came
in 1905.   A short five years later these same conditions led to the bloody Mexican
Revolution of 1910.
Korea, at the same time, in 1905, became a protectorate of Japan.   The economic
control and subsequent social disorganization caused by Japanese colonialism forced
Koreans to seek jobs outside of their country.   The Mexican hacendados, or land owners,
in order to keep their profits high, needed more laborers to work on their plantations and
thus, lured the Koreans to Mexico with promises of high wages, a 9 hour working day
and free travel expenses.   Instead the Koreans found themselves living in virtual slavery.
Life on the Hacienda
On April 15,1905, |030 Koreans of both sexes landed at Salina Cruz (a port on
the west coast of Mexico). From Salina Cruz, the Koreans traveled by railroad to Merida,