Exhibit 99.1



                                                           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                              DATE:                            DECEMBER 31, 2003

                              CONTACTS:           Benjamin Hong, President & CEO
                                                                    213-639-1700
                                                              Timothy Chang, CFO
                                                                    213-639-2596
                                                   J. Han Park, Public Relations
                                                                    213-427-6322



NARA BANCORP, INC. ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF TRUST PREFERRED OFFERINGS

Los Angeles, CA, December 31, 2003: Nara Bancorp (Nasdaq: NARA), today announced
that it has received net proceeds of $14.8 million through its participation in
two trust preferred securities offerings (a $10 million and a $5 million
offering) as part of pooled offerings with several other financial institutions.
Nara issued the trust preferred securities through two newly formed wholly-owned
trust subsidiaries to supplement capital and to use for general corporate
purposes.

The trust preferred securities will mature in 30 years and are callable at the
option of Nara in multiples of $1,000 after five years. The securities have
floating rates, which will reset quarterly, based on the three-month LIBOR plus
2.95% (in the case of the $10 million offering) and 2.85% (in the case of the $5
million offering).

Under applicable regulatory guidelines, Nara expects that some portion of trust
preferred securities will qualify as Tier 1 and the majority will qualify as
Tier 2 capital.

About Nara Bancorp

Nara Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Nara Bank, N.A., which was founded
in 1989. Nara Bank is a full service commercial bank headquartered in Los
Angeles with twenty-two branches and offices in the United States and one
representative office in Seoul, Korea. Nara Bank operates full service branches
in California and New York with loan production offices in California,
Washington, Illinois, Georgia, New Jersey and Virginia. Nara Bank specializes in
core business banking products for small and medium-sized companies with
emphasis in commercial real estate and business lending, SBA lending and
international trade financing. Nara Bank is a member of the FDIC and is an Equal
Opportunity Lender. For more information on Nara Bank call our Los Angeles
office at 213-639-1700 or New York office at 212-279-2790 or visit our website
at www.narabank.com. Nara Bancorp, Inc. stock is listed on Nasdaq under the
symbol "NARA".



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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements, including,
but not limited to economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors
affecting Nara Bancorp's operations, markets, products, services, and pricing.
Nara Bancorp undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results
of any revision to these forward-looking statements. Readers should carefully
review the risk factors and the information that could materially affect Nara
Bancorp's financial results, described in other documents the Company files from
time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form
10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2003 and Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002, and particularly the discussion of
business considerations and certain factors that may affect results of
operations and stock price set forth therein. Readers are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
date of this press release.



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