New Malden’s South Koreans are now being joined by increasing numbers from the north, but a shared language is no guarantee of harmony

In New Malden, the Surrey high street that stretches out from the railway station taking commuters to London Waterloo is filled with signs from another land. There are Korean restaurants and supermarkets, a Korean bakery and a Korean estate agent – even a Korean acupuncture centre. When Samsung established its first European HQ, this was where it set up. The population of this quiet suburb of south-west London, estimated at about 10,000, is almost one-third South Korean.

Recently, however, New Malden has emerged as the adopted home of another wave of immigrants from the Korean peninsula – those from north of the demilitarised zone. Enticed by job opportunities made easier by a shared language, the number of North Koreans living here has risen from only 20 in 2007 to about 800 today – the largest North Korean community in Europe.

But coexistence hasn’t been uncomplicated. As the number of North Koreans grew, they started to form their own community, separate from the already established South Koreans. And in recent years, some say the division between the two groups has resulted in the rise of low-level tensions.

“North and South Koreans associate with each other in professional settings but not much in informal social settings,” says Baek Jun-hwa, a leading member of the North Korean community in the UK. Baek, whose name has been changed, first came to New Malden in 2007, one of the first North Koreans to settle in the area. When he arrived, he worked in the warehouse of a South Korean supermarket, and has since become assistant manager at another one nearby.

Baek says that both South and North Koreans feel a certain level of discomfort towards each other. Despite efforts to foster closer ties, such as South Koreans inviting North Koreans to formal community events, many North Koreans are unwilling to attend.

“They say, why do we have to go there? North Koreans see events organised by the South Korean community as something that is not part of their community.”

Discrimination is another key flashpoint in the two groups’ often intertwined tensions. “Compared with South Korea, where North Koreans experience a lot of discrimination, the UK is much more of a level playing field as we are both foreigners in this country and in the eyes of the British people. We are both seen as just Koreans. But discrimination exists here too, and some South Koreans look down upon North Koreans,” says Baek.

“For instance, if there are 10 Korean children in one school and eight are from the South and two are from the North, the mothers of the eight South Korean children will drink tea with each other and have social gatherings. The mothers of the two North Korean mothers will not be able to participate. The South Korean mothers will not isolate the North Korean mothers deliberately, but what often happens is that North Koreans are seen as outcasts and are left out.”

Baek acknowledges that without the economic help of the South Korean community, such as providing jobs, the North Koreans would have never been able to establish a community of their own. But he believes the huge cultural differences that exist between South and North Korea, which have been separated for almost 70 years, acts as a barrier even in the UK. Since 1948, North Koreans have lived under the dictatorial regimes of the Kim dynasty, suffering poverty, repression and the long arm of a brutal police state. Since the 1980s, South Koreans, on the other hand, have watched their economy boom as the country embraced democracy and opened up to the rest of the world.

When people from the two countries find themselves face to face in New Malden, says Baek, they often don’t have much in the way of common ground, and dialogue is hindered as a result. “When South Koreans talk about their lives and experiences in South Korea,” he says, “North Koreans cannot join in the conversation because they don’t know what they [South Koreans] are talking about.”