The Overseas Korean Cooperation Center (Director Kim Young-geun, hereinafter referred to as the 'Center'), a public institution under the Overseas Koreans Agency, has released video recordings of oral histories from 25 overseas Koreans in Latin America. This initiative commemorates the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Cuba in 2024 and the 120th anniversary of Korean immigration to Mexico in 2025.
Jennie Chang Song (75), who served as the first curator of the Korean Immigration Museum in Merida, Mexico, spoke about the arduous lives of the early Korean immigrants. She recounted her grandfather's words: "Due to the Japanese occupation, there was no homeland to return to after the farm contracts ended." She added, "He longed for the mountains of Korea, the cold weather and smells, and everything about Korea."
Marta Lim Kim (87), the third daughter of the late Lim Cheon-taek, a Cuban Korean and independence activist posthumously awarded the Order of National Foundation Merit (Patriotism Award), narrated her father's migration process to Mexico in 1905, his subsequent relocation to Cuba, and the activities of the local Korean association. She stated, "Despite their poverty, the Koreans in Cuba collected a spoonful of rice from each meal to send funds for the Korean independence movement during the Japanese occupation."
A graduate of the University of Havana and a retired philosophy professor from the University of Matanzas, she co-authored the book The Koreans in Cuba with her Cuban historian husband. She continues to take a leading role in fostering unity among the descendants of Korean immigrants in Cuba.
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