How New Malden became Europe's Koreatown

A quiet suburb in southwest London hosts one of the largest Korean communities in Europe. The story usually starts with an address: in the 1970s the South Korean ambassador's residence and embassy functions were located nearby, and Korean families, businesses, and churches followed — later joined by the European offices of major Korean companies.

By the 1990s the High Street and Burlington Road read as much in hangul as in English: supermarkets, galbi houses, bakeries, hairdressers, and Saturday-morning Korean schools. New Malden station even celebrates Kimchi Day with its community rail adopters.

New Malden is also home to one of the largest North Korean defector communities outside Asia — making this outwardly ordinary suburb one of the few places on earth where people from both Koreas live side by side on the same streets.