Another important limitation in the current understanding of racial discrimination is the minimal research that exists on Korean American emerging adults’ experiences. Emerging adulthood (typically aged 18–29) is characterized by exploring one’s identity, reflecting on oneself, but also feeling like one is in a transitional (and somewhat unstable) state, filled with concern and excitement for the future. Emerging adulthood is a critical developmental period for ethnic and racial identity development marked by a deeper reflection, wider exploration, and increased flexibility as well as formation of complex intersection among multiple identities such as social class, political, gender, national identities (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014). The consolidation of the ethnic and racial identity, defined as a sense of collective identity based on one’s perception of shared heritage, activities, and culture with a particular racial group (Helms, 2003; Yip, 2018), is likely to continue to evolve throughout adulthood and this process is informed by the ecological context in which individual lives are embedded, including the surrounding community (McLean, 2008). During these formative years, ethnic minority young adults may become more aware of racial discrimination experiences, which may also shape their identity trajectories.

The literature on Korean American emerging adult discrimination experience is lacking. While studies have documented the discrimination that Korean Americans face in adulthood, these findings are often not generalizable to emerging adults because of immigration and acculturation differences. Many first-generation Korean immigrants occupy different areas of the labor market (e.g., self-employed, small businesses), and may remain segregated in ethnic enclaves. Emerging adult Korean Americans on the other hand may tend to have more access to educational opportunities and have closer connection to the mainstream society (Min, 2006). Thus the experiences of English-speaking Korean American young adults who spent their childhood in the U.S. may have notably different characteristics compared to the older immigrant generation in how they perceive racial discrimination experiences (Young et al., 2022). Very little qualitative research exists on Korean American emerging adults’ racial discrimination experiences, with a few exceptions including some studies focusing on adopted Korean individuals (Lee et al., 2019; Schires et al., 2020).

Thus, we sought to understand how Korean Americans perceived racial discrimination targeting Asian Americans and whether they perceived ethnic discrimination targeting Korean Americans to be distinct. We embarked on this journey just prior to a complex historical moment that brought issues of race and identity into the forefront of public discourse. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic ignited a firestorm of anti-Asian racism, prompting many Asian Americans to either directly experience or witness racial discrimination (Chen et al., 2020; Gover et al., 2020). This moment was also characterized by the Black Lives Matter protests (herein referred to as BLM) following the killing of unarmed Black Americans by the police, which raised awareness of anti-Black racism (Nguyen et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2023). At the same time, Korean popular culture had been enjoying a ‘moment’ internationally during a Korean Wave (i.e., Hallyu), with the Korean film Parasite winning ‘Best Picture’ at the Academy Awards, and with the Korean pop group BTS winning Billboard’s ‘Top Social Artist’ 5 years in a row from 2017 to 2021 (Kim, 2021). Understanding how these converging historical moments impact emerging adults is critical given that emerging adulthood is a stage when people are still negotiating their identities. Particularly for marginalized groups, historic events (both hostile and affirming) that take place during emerging adulthood may dramatically shape the ethnic and racial identity trajectories (Phinney and Ong, 2007).

We conducted multiple focus groups with Korean American emerging adults in higher education to understand their experiences of racial and ethnic discrimination. We specifically explored their reactions to the AARRSI and whether they felt it captured their experiences of ethnic discrimination. We examined the extent to which the aforementioned historical events might have altered perspectives on racial and ethnic discrimination. We then breached the divide between researcher and participant by employing insider- and auto-ethnography to make sense of the focus group findings and set an agenda for future research.

We recruited 12 respondents (N_p = 12) to participate in focus groups between September 2019 and December 2020. We conducted four sequential focus groups comprising Korean American English-speaking emerging adults in higher education and allowed open-ended conversations to organically lead to discovery. Eligibility criteria included individuals who were (1) 18–24 years old and (2) self-identify as Korean American (has lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years regardless of immigrant or visa status). We recruited participants using convenience sampling, drawing from our own social networks through emails and verbal communication. We allowed only four participants in each of the focus groups so that participants would have enough time to share their thoughts on a sensitive topic (Toner, 2009). Upon completion of the initial three focus groups, a set of historical events occurred that we believed would reshape the views of the participants. We leveraged these events to explore the potential changes in perspectives of our focus group participants by re-inviting them for the fourth focus group (N = 4). At least one participant from each of the original three focus groups participated in the follow-up. The participants were on average 20 years old and 46% were women. Recruitment flyers were in both English and Korean, but all respondents were English-speaking. All respondents were college educated. We present the size and gender composition of each focus group in Figure 1 (See Supplementary material Table S1A, S1B).

All participants provided informed consent for their participation in the study. Three of the focus groups (pre-COVID) were held in person and the fourth follow-up focus group (during the COVID-19 pandemic) was held via the Zoom online platform. Each focus group lasted approximately 80 min, and each participant received $50 compensation for attending a focus group and an additional $40 for participating in a follow-up focus group. The in-person focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim through Scribie, a confidential third-party transcription service. The online groups were recorded using Zoom and the transcript was auto-generated and corrected manually by one of the authors. Two researchers coded the data, and used Excel to track all codes and themes. We did not calculate an inter-coder reliability, given the interpretive nature of our inquiry, and that our aim was not to find agreement in seeing the data the exact same way (but see O’Connor and Jofee, 2020 for discussion on this topic).

To prepare the respondents for discussion about racial discrimination, we began each focus group with a warm-up activity that asked participants to list experiences of racial discrimination, and whether the discrimination happened to them personally (direct), to Korean Americans they know (vicarious), or to other Asians whom they do not know personally (group-level). We asked participants to assume multiple vantage points to prime them for the focus group discussion. We then asked participants to complete the AARRSI (Liang et al., 2004).

Following these two activities, we conducted a semi-structured focus group inviting respondents to reflect on their responses to the AARRSI. Examples of interview questions are available in Supplementary material Table S2. Given the sequential nature of the focus groups, we allowed the interview questions in the fourth focus group to evolve based on emergent findings from prior focus groups. Thus, we were able to invite a subsample of the original respondents to reflect on the recent events related to COVID-19 and whether their perspectives about racial discrimination toward Korean emerging adults have changed since the previous focus group.

This study’s methodology is two-pronged in that our inquiry is informed by two sources, which are the focus group participants, as well as our own lived experiences. As Korean Americans researching our own community, we occupy a unique position from which we can speak to the emergent qualitative findings. We borrow concepts and techniques from the ethnographic literature that often uses terms like “native” or “indigenous” ethnography. We prefer the term “insider-ethnography” when observing the Korean American community and “auto-ethnography” when reflecting on our lived experiences (Boylorn, 2014). We drew from these ethnographic approaches to formulate our own observations as we discussed and made sense of the qualitative findings. Six of the researchers (N_r = 6) consisting of both faculty and a PhD student bring considerable knowledge to this study having lived in the Korean American community in California with varying generational statuses (1st, 1.5th, and 2nd generation). We wrote memos to document our observations of the Korean American community, as well as our own lived experiences of racial discrimination, and we used our memos in tandem with the focus group data to make our thought processes transparent when interpreting the findings.

However, we acknowledge that the Korean American experience is multifaceted, and we cannot provide insights that are representative of the entire heterogenous Korean American community. Moreover, we are researchers in academia, and therefore bring a specific view to the subject matter shaped by scholarly discourses surrounding racial discrimination and its impact on health outcomes in marginalized communities. However, our research team consists of members with intersectional experiences in terms of age, gender, immigration history, and acculturation. We reflexively discussed our positionality with two non-Korean American co-authors (one Filipina American, and one Singaporean American), who provided ‘outsider’ perspectives. Figure 2 shows the dialectic between participant and researcher in the analytic process, with participants driving the generation of themes, and with insider/auto-ethnography driving discussion around omissions and research implications.

Following the guidelines set forth by Braun and Clarke (2019), we used reflexive thematic analysis to code all transcripts, beginning with familiarization with the data, then generating codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, and defining themes. Two of the authors reviewed and coded transcripts after each focus group, and inductively developed preliminary codes. After all four focus groups were conducted, we deliberated and identified the major themes. We then reviewed the codes and themes in group meetings, and used our own insights, observations, and lived experiences to make sense of focus group data. We also drew from our own lived experiences to identify omissions and articulate main implications for research.

After synthesizing our memos and meeting to discuss, we reflected on several forms of discrimination several forms of discrimination that were not raised in focus groups. These included online racism (e.g., harassment in virtual spaces), and appearance-based discrimination (e.g., body shaming and the privileging of Eurocentric beauty standards). We noted that respondents did not describe romantic and dating biases, including racialized sexualization, fetishization, and emasculation. We recognized that it is possible some types that it is possible some types of discrimination were not reported due to life stage. For example, participants might not have reported certain microaggressions (e.g., being overlooked, interrupted, or under-recognized in professional contexts) because they were still students. Other observations we noted included the omission of cultural racism, such as lack of media representation and stereotypes of Asian Americans as being one-dimensional (e.g., college admissions). We organized our observations in Table 2.

While we did not delve into the complexities of racial and ethnic identity with the focus group participants, we did allow space for them to reflect on the difference between race and ethnicity. We noted that the examples of discrimination they reported were largely applicable to other Asian racial groups (not unique to Korean Americans), including the experience that people think all Asians are the same. However, when asked about their Korean identity, participants pointed to ethnicity-specific examples of culture and pride. A thought-provoking scenario may be to consider which countries Korean Americans root for during the Olympic Games; Korean Americans may be proud of both South Korea and the US, and may feel somewhat divided when the countries are competing against each other. But Korean Americans may not often feel any particular sense of pride for other East Asian countries, such as China or Japan.

Existing literature has underscored the covert or invisible nature of racism (Bonilla-Silva, 2006; Noh et al., 2007; Jones et al., 2016; Jadotte et al., 2022), and so it is not surprising that the respondents had difficulty describing their experiences of racial discrimination. Some respondents felt that they were not seriously impacted by racial discrimination, pointing to positive stereotypes such as the model minority myth, which did not feel particularly bothersome. Also, the ongoing ‘Korean Wave’ and globalization of Korean popular culture often seemed to give an impression that Korean Americans were embraced in American society. These views coincide with emerging literature that has explored why ethno-racial minorities may deny or minimize racial discrimination (Kay et al., 2013; Oh et al., 2025; Siy and Cheryan, 2016; Yi et al., 2022). Notably, ethno-racial minorities may feel as though their experiences do not ‘count’ when compared with more serious forms of racism (Lewis et al., 2015; Oh et al., 2025), such that Korean Americans may minimize their own struggles relative to the more visible and often violent forms of racial discrimination faced by Black communities (e.g., police brutality). What some may consider subtle discrimination, however, can be more psychologically and physiologically challenging than blatant experiences of discrimination (Noh et al., 2007; Yoo and Lee, 2008). The findings highlight the complexities in perceived racial discrimination experiences and warrant a careful examination of how vague and subtle experiences may affect well-being.

We discovered that respondents could not clearly separate ethnic discrimination targeting Korean Americans from broader anti-Asian American racial discrimination, making it unclear if Korean Americans faced unique forms of discrimination compared to other Asian American subgroups. Thus, we did not find compelling evidence that an ethnic-specific measure of discrimination was warranted. Existing measures of anti-Asian discrimination already address experiences such as feeling like a ‘perpetual foreigner’ (the enduring perception that Asian Americans are outsiders and do not truly belong in the USA, regardless of whether they were born in the country or how long they have lived in the country (Liang et al., 2004; Yoo et al., 2010; Huynh et al., 2011), which resonated with the Korean American emerging adults in our focus groups.

At the same time, participants expressed frustration at being conflated with other Asian Americans, which was a common kind of discrimination described in the focus groups (i.e., all Asians are the same). One study of Korean American high school students found that most of the sample identified solely as Korean, rejecting a pan-ethnic Asian identity as Asian, and even working hard to distinguish themselves from other Asian Americans (Lee, 2009). It seemed that when discussing experiences of racial discrimination, respondents tended to point to race; however, when discussing aspects of identity, like cultural pride, respondents tended to refer to ethnicity. For instance, the Korean focus group participants mention the popularization of K-Pop, K-Drama, and K-food as a source of Korean pride. And yet when describing experiences of discrimination, the participants tended to describe stereotypes that were common to other Asian American groups.

A clear finding of our focus groups was that measures of anti-Asian racial discrimination can be inadequate. When presented with AARRSI, respondents were unfamiliar with the cultural references, underscoring the idea that racial discrimination scales are time-bound and reflect the specific forms of prejudice prevalent when the scales were developed (see Hester et al., 2023). Upon reflecting on the participants’ experiences and their reactions to the AARSI, we drew from our own observations and experiences to highlight the kinds of discrimination that were not discussed in the focus groups (Table 2). We offer these omissions to complement the focus groups findings, given that the items from the AARSSI did not touch on several key domains where Korean Americans may experience racial discrimination.

Our focus groups offered a unique opportunity for us to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic and BLM protests may have influenced Korean American emerging adults’ perceptions of racial discrimination. The findings suggest that historical events, particularly ones blatantly revealing racism in our society in our society, contextualize and shape participants’ perceived racial discrimination experiences. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, participants described experiencing racial discrimination infrequently, being uncertain about whether they had experienced racial discrimination, or not being bothered by the experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic increased direct and indirect exposure to racial discrimination, and Korean Americans may have personally experienced increased discrimination due to their ethnicity (being conflated with other Asian Americans) or witnessed media coverage of racial discrimination against other Asian Americans (Yu et al., 2020; Layug et al., 2022), increasing awareness of group-level discrimination, racial biases, and the public’s low regard for Asian Americans (McGarity-Palmer et al., 2023).

Our findings align with other qualitative work on Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lee et al. (2023) found that Asian American women reported experiencing a range of COVID-19–related racial discrimination, including direct verbal harassment and slurs, as well as avoidance and exclusionary behaviors where people intentionally distanced themselves. Participants also described being stereotyped and blamed for spreading the virus, and being ‘othered’ or treated as perpetual foreigners. In addition to these direct encounters, many experienced internal or vicarious discrimination by worrying about family members’ safety or hearing about others’ racist experiences. These incidents had a range of emotional and psychological consequences (e.g., anxiety, fear, hypervigilance, sadness, anger, internalized self-blame) and behavioral consequences (e.g., social isolation, modifying physical appearance, or avoiding places) to avoid discrimination. An important aspect of their study is that the experiences prompted deep reflection on racial identity, including heightened awareness of being Asian, prompting negotiation between assimilation and pride, and shaping self-presentation. This aligns closely with our findings.

The second precipitating event was the BLM protests, which may have prompted Korean Americans to reflect on their own minority status vis-à-vis the broader struggles against racial injustice faced by Black communities. Korean Americans may have become more aware of racism and may have come to realize that they too experience racial discrimination in a racist society (Matriano et al., 2021). On the other hand, it is also possible that Korean Americans questioned whether their experiences whether their experiences counted as racial discrimination compared with the experiences of Black Americans. This ‘minority comparison effect’ has been documented in emerging literature (Baek and Lee, 2012; Oh et al., 2025). Both COVID-19 related anti-Asian discrimination and the BLM protests may have led Korean Americans to re-evaluate their perceptions of racial discrimination and their roles in fighting racism.

We generated a list of implications for future research (Table 3), which should be viewed next to the larger body of work on racial discrimination measurement (Atkins, 2014; Lewis et al., 2015). Racial discrimination is often experienced as vague, subtle, and ambiguous, underscoring the need for culturally sensitive measurement, such as clarifying terms through dialogue boxes, providing concrete examples, probing for minimization, and including prompts about multiple domains like online spaces. We also noted that ethnic discrimination targeting Korean Americans can be difficult to distinguish from broader racial discrimination, suggesting that researchers should ask about both race and ethnicity, anticipate confusion around these concepts, and attend to ethnicity-specific experiences that vary across subgroups. For example, South Asians may be more likely to report being racially profiled at security in airports whereas East Asians might be stereotyped for knowing martial arts or ridiculed for eating certain types of foods. Further, existing racial discrimination measures may be inadequate, requiring updated cultural references, attention to life stage, gender, and sexuality, and the creative integration (“curation” or “Frankensteining”) of items across scales to capture nuanced experiences. Finally, historical events may shape perceptions and reporting of discrimination, highlighting the value of context-sensitive approaches such as case studies, process tracing, and the use of visual or media prompts to evoke reflection on evolving social realities. Our work also encourages the integration of qualitative approaches into longitudinal designs, where quantitative frequency of racial discrimination measures before and after historical events may help strengthen causal inferences, while qualitative inquiries can triangulate and add depth to perceptions of change over time.

As with all studies, our study should be interpreted considering its limitations. One potential limitation is that the focus groups were initially held in person but converted to the Zoom platforms. It is unclear how this may have changed the group dynamics among the participants. Additionally, convening a follow-up focus group with a different configuration of members who were available does not capture a complete picture of how respondents changed their views over time although at least one participant from each focus group was represented in the follow-up. In terms of sampling, the study consisted of an urban, English-speaking, college educated emerging adults. There may be considerable within-group variation in terms of perceptions of racial and ethnic discrimination within Korean communities (e.g., differences based on political ideology, acculturation, immigration status, sexual orientation), which might not be adequately captured in the current study. Finally, as insider- and auto-ethnographers, we must acknowledge our multiple roles as both Korean Americans and as researchers, and the vantage points from which we are viewing the complex sociocultural phenomena across a heterogeneous community. We reflexively embrace our identities as researchers and understand the limitations of our roles.