My name is Daniel. I was an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea, and now I am a writer who has published three books including South Korea: Our Story by Daniel Nardini.

                       Long ago, I knew an old man named Mr. Won. Born and raised in Korea, he lived in Seoul almost his entire life, and had a career as a translator. He was one of my best friends, and in many ways a father figure. The one thing that set him apart from everyone else I knew in South Korea was the fact that he was not Korean. He was an ethnic Chinese, and his real name was Mr. Wang. Contrary to what many Koreans believe, South Korea does have an ethnic minority. Just as Japan has the Ainu, South Korea has the Chinese. The ethnic Chinese are a very invisible minority. Born and raised in South Korea (or escaped from North Korea), they speak and read Korean, they look no different from Koreans, and they are engaged in many types of occupations. However, they are descendants of the Chinese immigrants who came in 1882, and they have maintained their ties to their communities (although they live in a number of cities through South Korea, they are mostly centered in Seoul and Gyeonggi province). How do I know about the ethnic Chinese? I knew Mr. Wang, and I can speak an intermediate level of Mandarin so I could talk to Mr. Wang in both English and Mandarin. He introduced me to a number of ethnic Chinese families in Seoul, and I always maintained ties to Mr. Wang until be passed away from complications of tuberculosis. While there are a growing number of Koreans who can speak Mandarin, ethnic Chinesespeak with a pronounced northern (usually Shandong) accent that I recognize. They are indeed South Korea's only known ethnic minority.