Background

According to Laura Katz Olson's discussion of Korean-American immigrants in her book, Korean-American elders are divided into two categories: those who came to the United States at the invitation of their adult children who were already settled (also known as “invited elderly”), or those who immigrated as adults with their own family and who recently reached the age of retirement (also known as “immigrated elderly”).

While Olson argues that most of the Korean immigrants in the United States are invited immigrants, her record of the US census is outdated and lacks the changes in society today. The rise of global corporations has led many foreigners to immigrate due to oversea branch offices and other work-related issues. Many workers who came through these businesses were granted green cards and were able to settle down much easily than before. Also, the 2009 US census showed that “there were about 16.9 million children age 17 and under with at least one immigrant parent. They accounted for 23.8 percent of the 70.9 million children age 17 and under in the United States. (Additionally,) the 14.6 million second-generation children — those who were born in the United States to at least one foreign-born parent — accounted for 86.2 percent of all children with immigrant parents. The remaining 13.8 percent (2.3 million) were children born outside the United States to foreign-born parents.” Such results illustrate how much more immigrated elderly reside in the states than in the past.

Despite having different backgrounds, both invited and immigrated Korean-American elders face difficulties in adjusting to the new environment and cultures in the United States. The invited elders are oblivious of the differences that they will face as they immigrate, while immigrated elders tend to be more alert and aware of these differences as they start to settle down. Yet, as discussed in the previous post, language barriers are a significant factor that hinder both groups of Korean-American elders from acquiring informations on governmental services and care. As elders continue to struggle with the clash of two cultures and ideas, such conflict lead them to reject possible benefits and services that are available to them.