Understanding and Counseling Korean Americans: Implications for Training

Article: Korean Americans are a growing subgroup of the U.S. population with distinct characteristics and counseling needs. These characteristics and needs are considered and implications for counselor training are explored. Asian and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing minority group in the United States (Gould, 1988). In 1990, there were over 7.4 million Asian and Pacific Islanders living in this country. It is estimated that by the year 2000, this number will grow to more than 12,000, and by the year 2050, the increase will be to over 40 million (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1995). There are over 29 distinct subgroups that comprise this population, including persons of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Thai, Hmong, Pakistani, and Korean cultures (Moy, 1992). Within the population of Asian and Pacific Islanders, Korean Americans are one of the most rapidly increasing immigrant groups (Kim & Rew, 1994). Of the 7.4 million persons in the total Asian and Pacific Islander population in 1990, 800,000 (11%) were Korean Americans (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1995).