Koreatown in the borough of Palisades Park (Korean: 팰리세이즈파크 코리아타운, shortened to Pal Park 팔팍), Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, is centered around the business district on Broad Avenue,[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] which has been called a "Korean food walk of fame".
Chusok Korean Thanksgiving harvest festival has become an annual tradition in Bergen County, attended by several tens of thousands.
[23] Korean cafés have become a major cultural element within Palisades Park's Koreatown, not only for the coffee, bingsu (shaved ice), and pastries, but also as communal gathering places.
[37] Approximately 120 Korean stores were counted in Palisades Park in 2000,[17] a number which has risen significantly since then, featuring restaurants and karaoke (noraebang) bars, grocery markets, education centers, book stores, financial institutions (such as Shinhan Bank and Woori Bank), offices, electronics vendors, apparel boutiques, and other commercial enterprises.
[42] In 2010, in a public park near the public library a brass plaque on a block of stone, was dedicated to the memory of comfort women, tens of thousands of women and girls, many Korean, who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during World War II.
[51] A memorial dedicated to the victims of the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry off the South Korean coast on April 16, 2014, was unveiled at the public library in May 2014.
[54] In July 2015, Shawn M. Lee was sworn in as Palisades Park's first Korean-American police sergeant and Gina S. Kim was sworn in as the borough's first municipal clerk, reflecting the growing political influence of the Korean American population in Palisades Park.