The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 14(2). The purpose of this paper is to investigate two Korean children's understanding of language and identity issues and their feelings while residing in the United States. Korean academic families residing in the US temporarily but for extended periods of three to seven years encounter a complex set of issues with regard to their children's language use, cultural development, and identity development. Data include child interviews, child observations, and parent interviews. Gee's (2001) four ways to view identity were employed as a framework to analyze the child-participants' narratives. Based on the interviews and observations with the participating children, it seems that the children who spoke Korean at home at least with their parents, were vulnerable to the stress of competing forces. They were forced to integrate to a new linguistic and social environment as soon as they went to an English-speaking school. At the same time, they were expected to maintain not only their Korean language skills but also cultural values from their parents. The children seem to have gone through an identity crisis. Having a full command of two languages and accommodating two sets of cultural norms comprised their daily struggles.