THE KOREAN DIASPORA IN THE WORLD ECONOMY, edited by C. Fred Bergsten and Inbom Choi. Washington D.C.: Institute for International Economics, Special Report 15, January 2003, 180 pp., $25 (paper)

In recent years, increasing attention has been given to the social and economic role of diasporas -- communities of foreign nationals -- in their new homes. Economists have tended to focus on Chinese and Indians who have left their native lands and gone on to make substantial contributions to both their new home and that of their ancestors.

There has been little study of the Korean diaspora -- at least until now. This slim volume, the product of an October conference in Seoul hosted by the Overseas Koreans Foundation and the Institute for International Economies, is a fascinating introduction to the history and continuing contributions of the Korean communities spread around the world.

Some 5.7 million Koreans, about 10 percent of the current population of the Korean Peninsula, live elsewhere in the world; that figure grew about 17 percent over the past decade.