It’s a Korean thing.
Pale skin is highly, highly valued in traditional Korean culture, and so many Korean women take great care to preserve the light value of their skin. The gloves block the sun.

they dont!

This is not just Korean, it’s all over South East Asia. Women wear these gloves to protect themselves against sunlight because they want to preserve their kinh race, which have light skin. Men prefer light skin ladies and also they want to emulate their American counterparts. Asians like everything that comes from US, except for junk food and a few other things.

I agree with lefteh, its a cultural thing, it’s highly valued to have a very light skin tone

many people have cultures around the world
this one is still follwed even though they might be far way from there hometown
they still carry it all the way over to the united states
Like lefteh said its a korean thing

As @edmartin101 said, the practice of wearing white gloves is not limited to Koreans. This was a common sight on the hands of cab drivers in Japan when I lived there.