Korean diaspora

The Korean diaspora consists of roughly seven million people, both descendants of early emigrants from the Korean peninsula, as well as more recent emigres from Korea. Nearly four-fifths of expatriate Koreans live in just three countries: China, the United States, and Japan. Other countries with greater than 0.5% Korean minorities include Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. All these figures include both permanent migrants and sojourners. Cumulatively, there were about 5.3 million Korean emigrants as of 2010.

Terminology

North Korea refers to Korean citizens living outside the Korean peninsula as haeoe gungmin (해외국민, "overseas citizens"), while South Korea uses the term jaeoe gungmin (재외국민, "citizens abroad").

Another broader term is gyopo (교포, also spelled kyopo); however, the term has come to have negative connotations as referring to people who, as a result of living as sojourners outside the "home country", have lost touch with their Korean roots. As a result, others prefer to use the term dongpo (동포, roughly "brethren" or "people of the same ancestry"). Dongpo has a more transnational implication, emphasising links among various overseas Korean groups, while gyopo has more of a purely national connotation referring to the Korean state.