Everything about Koryo-saram totally explained
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Koreans,
Sakhalin Koreans
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Koryo-saram (;
Hangul: 고려사람) is the name which ethnic
Koreans in the
Post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves. Approximately 500,000 ethnic Koreans reside in the former
USSR, primarily in the now independent states of
Central Asia. There are also large Korean communities in southern
Russia (around
Volgograd), the
Caucasus, and southern
Ukraine. These communities can be traced back to the Koreans who were living in the
Russian Far East during the late 19th century.
There is also a separate ethnic Korean community on the island of
Sakhalin, typically referred to as
Sakhalin Koreans. Some may identify as Koryo-saram, but many do not. Unlike the communities on the Russian mainland, which consist mostly of immigrants from the late 1800s and early 1900s, the ancestors of the Sakhalin Koreans came as immigrants from
Kyongsang and
Jeolla provinces in the late 1930s and early 1940s, forced into service by the Japanese government to work in coal mines in Sakhalin (then known as
Karafuto Prefecture) in order to fill labour shortages caused by
World War II.
Autonym
The word "Koryo" in "Koryo-saram" originated from the word
Goryeo(Dynasty) from which "Korea" was derived from. The name
Soviet Korean was also used, more frequently before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russians may also lump Koryo-saram under the general label
koreytsy ; however, this usage makes no distinctions between ethnic Koreans of the local nationality and the Korean nationals (citizens of South and North Koreas).
In Standard Korean, the term "Koryo-saram" is typically used to refer to historical figures from the Goryeo dynasty; to avoid ambiguity, Korean speakers use a word
Goryeoin (
Korean: 고려인;
Hanja: 高麗人, meaning the same as "Koryo-saram") to refer to ethnic Koreans in the post-Soviet states.
Origin
Immigration to the Russian Far East and Siberia
The 1800s saw the decline of the
Joseon Dynasty of Korea. A small population of wealthy elite owned the farmlands in the country, and poor peasants found it difficult to survive. Koreans leaving the country in this period were obliged to move toward Russia, as the border with China was sealed by the
Qing Dynasty. Many peasants considered
Siberia to be a land where they could lead better lives and they subsequently migrated there. As early as 1863, migration had already begun, with 13 households recorded near
Novukorut Bay. These numbers rose dramatically, and by 1869 Koreans composed 20% of the population of the
Maritime Province. Prior to the completion of the
Trans-Siberian Railway, Koreans outnumbered Russians in the Russian Far East, and the local governors encouraged them to naturalize. The 1897
Russian Empire Census found 26,005 Korean speakers (16,225 men and 9,780 women) in the whole of Russia, while a 1902 survey showed 312,541 Koreans living in the Russian Far East alone.
Korean neighborhoods could be found in various cities and Korean farms were all over the countryside. At the same time, Russia continued to serve as sanctuary for the
Korean independence movement. Korean
nationalists and
communists escaped to Siberia, the
Russian Far East, and
Manchuria. With the
October Revolution and the rise of communism in
East Asia, Siberia was home to Soviet Koreans that organised in armies like the
Righteous Army to oppose Japanese forces.
Deportation to Central Asia
Between 1937 and 1939,
Stalin deported over 172,000 Koreans to
Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan, on the official premise that the Koreans might act as spies for Japan. Many community leaders were purged and executed, and it would be over a decade and a half before Koryo-saram would be again permitted to travel outside of
Central Asia. Up until the era of
glasnost, it wasn't permitted to speak openly of the deportations. The events of this period led to the formation of a cohesive identity among the Korean deportees. About one-fourth reside in
Siberia and the
Russian Far East; the Korean population there trace their roots back to a variety of sources. Aside from roughly 33,000
CIS nationals, mostly migrants retracing in reverse the 1937 deportation of their ancestors, between 4,000 and 12,000
North Korean migrant labourers can be found in the region. Smaller numbers of
South Koreans and
ethnic Koreans from China have also come to the region to settle, invest, and/or engage in cross-border trade.
Other European countries
In the 2001 census in
Ukraine 12,711 people defined themselves as ethnic Koreans, up from 8,669 in 1989. Of these only 17.5% gave Korean as their first language. The vast majority (76%) stated their mother tongue was Russian, whilst 5.5% stated
Ukrainian. The largest concentrations can be found in
Kharkov,
Kiev,
Odessa,
Nikolaev,
Cherkassy,
Lvov,
Lugansk,
Donetsk,
Dnepropetrovsk,
Zaporozhie, and
Crimea. The largest ethnic representative body, the Association of Koreans in Ukraine, is located in Kharkov, where roughly 150 Korean families reside; the first
Korean language school was opened in 1996 under their direction.
Central Asia
The majority of Koryo-saram in Central Asia reside in
Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan. Korean culture in Kazakhstan is centered in
Almaty, the former capital. For much of the 20th century, this was the only place in Central Asia where a Korean language newspaper (the
Koryo Shinmun) and
Korean language theater were in operation. The Korean population here was sheltered by the local governor from the restrictions placed on them elsewhere. The censuses of Kazakhstan recorded 96,500 Koryo-saram in 1939, 74,000 in 1959, 81,600 in 1970, 92,000 in 1979, 100,700 in 1989, and 99,700 in 1999.
The population in Uzbekistan is largely scattered in rural areas. This population has suffered in recent years from linguistic handicaps, as the Koryo-saram there spoke Russian but not Uzbek. After the independence of Uzbekistan, many lost their jobs due to being unable to speak the new national language. Some emigrated to the
Russian Far East, but found life difficult there as well.
There is also a small Korean community in
Tajikistan. Mass settlement of Koreans in the country began during the late 1950s and early 1960s, after the loosening of restrictions on their freedom of movement which had previously kept them confined to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Pull factors for migration included rich natural resources and a relatively mild climate. Their population grew to 2,400 in 1959, 11,000 in 1979, and 13,000 in 1989; most lived in the capital
Dushanbe, with smaller concentrations in
Qurghonteppa and
Khujand. Like Koreans in other parts of Central Asia, they generally possessed higher incomes compared to members of other ethnic groups. However, with the May 1992 onset of
civil war in Tajikistan, many fled the country entirely; by 1996, their population had fallen by over half to 6,300 people. Most are engaged in agriculture and retail business. Violence continued even after the end of the civil war; in 2000, suspected
Hizb ut-Tahrir members exploded a bomb in a Korean Christian church in Dushanbe, killing 9 and wounding 30.
Return migration to Korea
As many as 10,000 Uzbekistanis work in South Korea, a sizable portion of them being ethnic Koreans. It is estimated that
remittances from South Korea to Uzbekistan exceed $100 million annually.
Culture
After their arrival in Central Asia, the Koryo-saram quickly established a way of life different from that of neighboring peoples. They set up irrigation works and became known throughout the region as rice farmers.
Koryo-saram have preserved the
Korean cuisine particularly well. The cuisine of the Koryo-saram is closest to that of the
Hamgyong provinces in North Korea, and is dominated by meat soups and salty side dishes. The Koryo-saram are particularly known among neighboring peoples for their
bosintang (dog-meat soup), which is served to honored guests and at restaurants.
Personal and family names
Furthermore,
Korean naming practises and
Russian naming practises conflict in several important ways; Koryo-saram have resolved each of these conflicts in a different way, in some cases favouring Russian patterns, in others, Korean patterns.
Patronymics
After the first generation of settlers, Koryo-saram tended to abandon traditional
Korean naming practices and follow
Russian naming patterns, using a Russian given name, Russian-style patronymic (derived from the father's name, regardless of whether his name was Russian or Korean), and Korean surname. For example,
Kim Jong-il was registered as Yuri Irsenovich Kim (Юрий Ирсенович Ким) in Soviet records, where the "Irsen" in the patronymic was the
Cyrillization of the given name of his father
Kim Il-sung. Succeeding generations tended to have both a Russian given name and a Russian patronymic. This differs from the pattern typical in the US, where
Korean American parents often register their children with a Korean given name as their legal middle name (for example
Daniel Dae Kim,
Harold Hongju Koh).
Surnames of married women
Another area in which traditional Korean naming practices clashed with Russian custom was in the use of surnames by married couples. In Russia, a wife traditionally takes her husband's surname after marriage, whereas Korean women retain their original surname even after marriage. In this regard, the Koryo-saram appear to have kept to Korean tradition much more closely, rather than adopting the Russian practice; for example,
out of 18 ethnic Korean babies born in the Kalinin district of Alma Ata, Kazakhstan in 1980, 10 were to parents with different surnames, possibly indicating the extent of this practice.
Declining for gender
Russian surnames are typically declined to indicate the gender of their bearer, while Korean surnames are not, as the Korean language lacks grammatical gender. In the former Soviet countries, many inhabitants, notably the Turkic peoples, had prefixes
ov or
ova added to their surnames; examples include presidents
Nursultan Nazarbayev and
Islom Karimov. However, Koryo-saram names don't follow this practice.
Prominent Koryo-saram
In academia
- Viktor Aleksandrovich Em, Professor, Doctor of Economy, Head of Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration. Few times held conferences in Seoul, Author of over hundreds books of economy and Memories about Soviet Union.
In business
Vladimir Kim, billionaire businessman from Kazakhstan, of Korean descent.
In cultural fields
Alexander Kan, North Korea-born Russian-language fiction writer, born in Pyongyang, North Korea (External Link
) (External Link).
Anatoly Andreevich Kim, Russian-language fiction writer (External Link).
German Kim, head of the Department of Korean Studies at Al-Farabi University, Kazakhstan, and a leading scholar in the history of Koryo saram.
Marina Kim, TV news anchor and journalist from Kyrgyzstan.
Roman Kim, one of the top contestants on Kazakhstani entertainment programme SuperStar KZ.
Yuliy Kim, singer, songwriter.
Dragon Lee (Vyachaslev Yaksysnyi), actor and practitioner of Taekwondo and hapkido, born in North Korea.
Nikolai Shin, Uzbekistani painter.
Lavrenti Son, Russian and Korean-language playwright.
Anita Tsoi, pop singer.
Viktor Tsoi, son of a Koryo-saram father and a Russian mother, lead singer of the Russian band Kino and a major figure in the development of the Soviet rock scene in the 1980s.
In politics
Vitaly Fen, Uzbekistan's ambassador to South Korea since November 12, 1999.
Valery Kan, the youngest person ever elected to the Ussuriysk Duma.
Alexandra Kim, the first Korean communist.
Kim Byeong Hwa (Ким Пен Хва /김병화), twice Hero of Socialist Labor and four times Order of Lenin recipient (External Link).
Georgy Vladimirovich Kim, former Minister of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan (January 29, 2002 – February 25, 2003). Now deputy Prosecutor General – Chairman of the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Accounting of the Republic of Kazakhstan (External Link).
Kim Gyong Chun (金擎天/김경천), leading anti-White Army partisan leader in Siberia during the Russian Civil War (External Link).
Kim Jong-il, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, born in Vyatskoye.
Mikhail Kim, delegate to the 17th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (External Link).
Aleksandr Pavlovich Min, Soviet military captain. Once Hero of the Soviet Union and Order of Lenin recipient (External Link) (External Link).
Boris Aleksandrovich Yugay, deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan (External Link) (External Link).
In sport
Nellie Kim, Olympic gold medal gymnast, born in Shurab, Tajikistan to a Korean father and Tatar mother.
Kostya Tszyu, Australian boxer of Russian, Korean and Mongol descent, born in Serov, Russia.Further Information
Get more info on 'Koryo-saram'.
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