Mosaic - Rose Paik
1911-2000 | Born in Seoul, Korea | Arrived on Angel Island in 1914
Rose Young Soon Paik was one of about 1,000 Koreans who arrived at the Port of San Francisco between 1910 and 1940. Their numbers were small because Japan occupied Korea during this period and imposed harsh restrictions.
Rose grew up working on her family’s farms in Idaho and Oregon. She eventually settled with her husband Meung Sun in Los Angeles, where they raised six children.
Rose (center) with her mother (left) and elder sister (right) at the Angel Island Immigration Station, 1914. This is the only known photo of Korean immigrants on Angel Island. Courtesy of Irvin Paik.
Rose, then known as Pok Yun Sun, was three years old when she arrived in San Francisco. She traveled with her mother, stepsister, and stepbrother. They had waited over a year to obtain the passports required to immigrate from Korea under Japanese colonial rule. They were immediately taken to Angel Island because they were traveling without an adult male and had no money.
Rose had measles and her step sister had hookworm, so both girls stayed in the Immigration Station's hospital for treatment. They were released two weeks after Rose's mother and step brother. This photo shows the hospital ward 1910. Courtesy of Angel Island State Park, 090-610
On Angel Island, Rose and her family were interrogated and given medical exams. Rose’s mother, Im So See, told immigration officials that the family came to the US to join her husband Park Kyung Soo. He was a widower who she had married in Seou. Rose was their daughter, and the other two children were from his first marriage. Kyung Soo had immigrated to the US through Hawaii in 1905 and eventually settled in Idaho. He worked as a bartender until he saved enough money to lease land for farming and send or his family in Korea.
The postmaster in Mountain Home, Idaho sent this telegram to Angel Island immigration officials in support of the Park family. It states: “Park Kyung Soo fully able to support family owns town lot has leased small farm.” Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
Rose’s father Kyung Soo was asked over 40 questions about his immigration and financial status. His answers matched with his wife’s, but the immigration officials still refused to believe that he owned a house and farmland in Idaho. Rose, her siblings, and mother were kept in detention until a telegram arrived from the postmaster in her father’s town in Idaho. He confirmed that Kyung Soo really did have property and could support his family.
Meung Sun Paik and Rose Young Soon Park on their wedding day in 1929, courtesy of USC Korean American Digital Archive.
Rose's family farmed in Idaho and Oregon, growing beans, corn, potatoes, and strawberries. When Rose was fourteen, her mother died in childbirth. At seventeen, Rose agreed to an arranged marriage with Paik Meung Sun, a farmer’s son. The couple went to live and farm in Utah and later had five daughters and a son. In 1941, they moved to Los Angeles, where Rose worked in a garment factory and later as a file clerk.
