Koreans in Argentina

Korean Argentines

한국 아르헨티나 (Korean) Coreano-argentinos (Spanish)
Korean Argentines at the Korean stand of the 2012 Gastronomic Patio held in Buenos Aires
Total population
9,579 (by birth, 2023)[1] 50,000 (by ancestry, 2021)[citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
Buenos Aires, especially Flores and Balvanera (formerly known as Once)[2]
Languages
Spanish · Korean (minority)
Religion
Majority: Protestantism Minority: Catholicism and Buddhism[3]
Related ethnic groups
Koreans · Korean Americans · Korean Brazilians · Korean Uruguayans

Koreans in Argentina (also known as Argentine Koreans or Korean Argentines) form the second-largest Korean diaspora community in South America and the 16th largest in the world, according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Their population declined by more than 50% between 1997 and 2003. Despite the small rebound in their numbers since then, they have been surpassed in size by the rapidly growing Chinese Argentine community (which since the 1990s has been increasing non-stop and is expected to become one of the biggest immigrant groups in Argentina, together with Paraguayan, Bolivian and Peruvian immigrants). In the 2010s decade, the Korean community in Argentina has fallen behind Korean communities in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, The United Arab Emirates, and Southeast Asia.^[4][5]

Nevertheless, the relevance of the community and especially its weight among the Korean communities has been hailed on more than one occasion. For example, the Centro Cultural Coreano-Argentino (Korean-Argentine Cultural Center) was created with its headquarters precisely in Argentina.^[6]