EXHIBIT 31.1

CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

I, Jae Whan Yoo, Chief Executive Officer, certify that:

    1.  I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of Hanmi Financial
        Corporation;

    2.  Based on my knowledge, this Annual Report does not contain any untrue
        statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
        to make the statement made, in light of the circumstances under which
        such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period
        covered by this Report;

    3.  Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
        information included in this Report, fairly present in all material
        respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows
        of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this Report;

    4.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
        establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
        defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
        control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
        13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

           (a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
               disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
               supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
               registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
               known to us by others within those entities, particularly during
               the period in which this Annual Report is being prepared;

           (b) designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
               caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
               designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
               regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
               preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
               accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

           (c) evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
               controls and procedures and presented in this Report our
               conclusions regarding the effectiveness of the disclosure
               controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by
               this Report based on such evaluation; and

           (d) disclosed in this Report any change in the registrant's internal
               control over financial reporting that occurred during the
               registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth
               fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
               materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
               affect, the registrant's internal control over financial
               reporting; and

    5.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
        our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,
        to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's
        board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):

           (a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
               design or operation of internal controls over financial reporting
               which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's
               ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
               information; and

           (b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
               other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's
               internal control over financial reporting.





Date:   March 15, 2004                      /s/ Jae Whan Yoo
                                            ----------------
                                            Jae Whan Yoo
                                            Chief Executive Officer