Korean-Americans maintain a strong attachment to their homeland for a number of reasons, although all of them provide the same benefit--a cohesive Korean-American community in a society which has not yet fully accepted Koreans or Asians without discrimination.
Like other Asians in the United States, Koreans are seen as hard-working, industrious, thrifty individuals who live and work together. All of this is true, although it is often said as if it were a negative set of qualities. The hard-working part of that equation is important in establishing lives in the United States, but it is also a sign of the Korean way of life which has been maintained by Korean-Americans. One aspect of life which Korean-Americans do not miss is low-pay for very hard work at long hours. While the discipline and selflessness which comes from such work are traits which Korean-Americans are grateful, they certainly appreciate that they are paid much more for their labor in the United States than they were in Korea. That aspect of Korean life they do not miss:
Because of the conditions in their homeland, Korean immigrants were no strangers to hard work at low pay. They were used to it. They expected it. They might be eager to escape it as an inevitable feature of ;life for themselves and their children, but they also had the experience to know they could survive it, if necessary (Light and Bonacich 360).
The Korean-Americans obviously left their homeland for the United States, so it is clear that they did not love everything about that homeland, and it is also clear that the United States had something to offer which they could not obtain in Korea. However, the bulk of this desire to leave had to do with economics more than any other factor. The life offered in the United States included first and foremost the opportunity to achieve the American Dream, which is primarily materialistic. This does not mean that the Korean-Americans want to complete...