Several state and local governments in the U.S. as well as Korean-American groups are celebrating an anniversary of the arrival of the first Korean immigrants to the nation. 

On Saturday, the government of California declared January 13 as Korean American Day after a related resolution co-proposed by state assembly members Choi Suk-ho and Sharon Quirk-Silva passed the state house of representatives and senate. 

The government of Maryland held a similar event last Thursday, while a celebratory event organized by a Korean group in U.S. State of Washington was held on Sunday. 

A total of 102 Koreans arrived in Hawaii on January 13 of 1903 to work at sugarcane plantations in the island-state, becoming the first batch of Korean immigrants to the U.S. More than 71-hundred Koreans followed in their footstep within the next two and a half years. 

According to the Foreign Ministry, there were two-point-63 million Korean Americans as of last year.