Little Seoul

[Morning]

 

Little Seoul, Los Santos

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Little Seoul is a Korean-influenced neighborhood within the city of Los Santos. It is a highly diverse, dense and working-class enclave with a sizable Korean minority and has a far higher proportion of foreign-born residents than the average Los Santos County district. The neighborhood is characterized by small, local businesses which commonly have English and Hangeul names, as well as the dense apartment blocks that the majority of residents reside in, the largest of which is the thirteen-story tall Dream Tower. The district is distinct from many American Koreatowns due to the coexistence of commercial and residential life and demographic change in recent decades.

 

Although the name suggests Little Seoul is a traditional ethnic enclave, there are a variety of ethnic and cultural minorities in the neighborhood with the Hispanic population now being a larger minority group than the Koreans themselves. In spite of this, the area remains culturally Korean with Korean businesses and traditions, such as food, remaining predominant. Korean culture within Little Seoul has began to draw from and blend with other cultures and groups, most notably Hispanic culture, with cuisine such as ‘Korean-Mexican fusion’ and lowrider culture becoming increasingly adopted within modern day Korean-American society.

 

History

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Korea’s self-imposed isolation was brought to an end by the United States-Korea Treaty of 1882. The resulting diplomatic relations between both the United States and Korea enabled the start of Korean migration to the United States. Koreans travelled to the US in several major stages, the earliest of these was between 1903 and 1905 to newly annexed islands of Hawaii to replace striking Japanese labourers. Of the 7,226 Koreans who were drafted into labouring roles in Hawaii, approximately 2,000 later migrated to the West Coast. This wave ended in 1905 as a result of the Japanese occupation of Korea. Migration largely ceased until the second wave brought about by the Korean War which resulted in approximately 14,000 Koreans, many of whom were war orphans, wives, or relatives of American servicemen migrating to the United States. The third wave of Korean migration to the United States occurred as a result of the 1965 Immigration Act which ended the national quota system, which previously disincentivised Korean migration.

 

The impact of the third wave of migrants was far more profound than previous waves in terms of background and numbers of migrants. The third wave of migrants were much more middle-class than previous migrants, consisting of mostly college educated Koreans hoping to make a lateral transition into American society. Upon arriving in the US, Koreans without medical or engineering degrees found such a transition difficult, resulting in many to become store owners and merchants. As a consequence, Little Seoul business owners were predominantly Koreans who either migrated or descended from Korean migrants, a predominance which remains to this day. It was during this time in the 1970s that Little Seoul became a distinct urban district as the third wave of Korean immigrants built upon a small Korean enclave within an underserved area produced by racial and economic segregation earlier in the twentieth century.

 

Los Santos Civil Unrest

In 1992, four police officers were acquitted for their use of excessive force and violent beating of an African American taxi driver during his arrest for speeding. Footage of the beating was taken from a resident’s nearby balcony and sent to a local news station, which fast became a worldwide topic covered by news outlets all over the globe. In the footage, officers could be seen participating in a prolonged beating of the suspect as he lay down on the floor beside his vehicle.

 

In the resulting trial, the jury acquitted all four officers of assault, much to the astonishment and outrage of the local population. Soon afterwards, crowds began to fill the streets in protest of the result of the trial, which were met by an outnumbered and unprepared police force. A series of incidents between protesters and police resulted in violence breaking out, and by the end of the 29th of April, a riot had begun.

 

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The riots continued for six days until order was restored, by which time, much of the surrounding area had been looted, vandalised and destroyed causing several hundred million dollars worth of damage. Many Korean Americans refer to the events as ‘Sa-l-Gu’, which means “four-two-nine”, referring to the date the riots in the area started. The Korean community were significantly impacted by the riots as law enforcement opted to defend more affluent areas and abandoned many other businesses to the looters. Koreans sought to defend their businesses, communities and livelihoods resulting in numerous dramatic scenes of armed Koreans patrolling on the ground and rooftops. In spite of these efforts, just under half of the businesses destroyed during the riots were Korean-owned and only a quarter of Korean businesses survived the riots and the immediate aftermath.

 

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The impact of the riots were profound on the community, changing how Koreans saw their relationship with America, their community and each other. Korean solidarity was increased while attempt to bridge the divide with other communities were undertaken and over time a deep connection between Koreans-Americans and Hispanic Americans was built up. The area was redeveloped, rebuilt and is stronger than ever. The area was redeveloped, rebuilt and is stronger than ever, and although it still suffers from socio-economic problems, it is a vibrant and multicultural centre for Koreans and other minorities alike.

 

OOC

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This community attempts to emulate Los Angeles’ Koreatown and will largely feature community-based roleplay, centred around many locations and Korean-owned businesses in the Little Seoul area. There are no race/nationality restrictions in place, as the real life equivalent of Little Seoul is a melting pot of many different races and cultures. However, we encourage you to research the groups of people that predominantly exist in the Koreatown LA to ensure you have an accurate understanding of the lifestyles and culture Little Seoul may have. Characters of all ages are welcome.

 

We advise you to PM one of the leaders (@Atiku, @Morning, and @Pascal) before joining this community. Whilst we cannot control who roleplays in the Little Seoul area, if you wish to RP with the community and be affiliated with us as a group you will need to to speak to us to both ensure you can provide a fitting character/roleplay for the area or to provide advice if you need it. We encourage all those who join to send us their character concept so we can provide feedback and ensure it has a reasonable amount of depth to it. With that in mind, we are willing to accept players who may be inexperienced with this type of roleplay, so long as you can provide a good attitude and willingness to learn.

 

Unless you have been approved by one of the three leaders, you must request permission to post screenshots on this thread.

Whilst highly unlikely due to the civilian nature of this community, we reserve the right to CK you in the extreme circumstance it may come down to that. CKs will (hopefully) be very rare and will mainly be applied against carelessly designed characters who are poorly/recklessly portrayed, i.e. a generic badass character who terrorises the community in a poorly roleplayed way continuously. We may also choose to apply a CK if your character gets jailed for a considerable (i.e. felony) offence.

 

Resources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreatown,_Los_Angeles
• Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown S1:E1 Los Angeles (Koreatown)
• Asian America: Forming New Communities, Expanding Boundaries (2009)
• The Korean Resurgence (Economist, 26 April, 1997)

Edited October 9, 2018 by Pascal

[Morning]

 

Edited October 9, 2018 by Atiku

[Rust]

Brilliant idea, love the Wiki layout.

[Skip]

Sending Tiger's love.

[Atiku]

[Morning]

[Morning]

 

Edited October 13, 2018 by Morning

[Franelli]

Enjoyed reading through your post. Looks really nice.

[Atiku]

The Great Milk Tragedy of 2018

 

[Crocker]