Sakhalin Koreans

Sakhalin Koreans are Russian citizens and residents of Korean descent living on <a href="/facts/Sakhalin_Island/oWSuMNl8">Sakhalin Island</a>, who can trace their roots to the immigrants from the <a href="/facts/Gyeongsang_Province/LNEc39j2">Gyeongsang</a> and <a href="/facts/Jeolla_Province/3V34xSK7">Jeolla</a> provinces of <a href="/facts/Korea/cj2kDBzc">Korea</a> during the late 1930s and early 1940s, the latter half of the <a href="/facts/Korea_under_Japanese_rule/zXSwP1Qu">Japanese colonial era</a>.
At the time, the southern half of Sakhalin Island, then known as <a href="/facts/Karafuto_Prefecture/NItXQ5Ie">Karafuto Prefecture</a>, was under the control of the <a href="/facts/Empire_of_Japan/gMpNKg2W">Empire of Japan</a>, whereas the northern half was part of the Soviet Union. The Japanese government both recruited and forced Korean labourers into service and shipped them to Karafuto to fill labour shortages resulting from <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>. The <a href="/facts/Red_Army/n15nLQTu">Red Army</a> invaded Karafuto days before <a href="/facts/Surrender_of_Japan/SM4dd1M9">Japan's surrender</a>; while all but a few Japanese there <a href="/facts/Repatriate/qCbTlgeY">repatriated</a> successfully, almost one-third of the Koreans could not secure permission to depart either to Japan or their home towns in <a href="/facts/South_Korea/pCobAaVw">South Korea</a>. For the next forty years, they lived in exile. In 1985, the Japanese government offered transit rights and funding for the repatriation of the original group of Sakhalin Koreans; however, only 1,500 of them returned to South Korea in the next two decades. The vast majority of Koreans of all generations chose instead to stay on Sakhalin. Beginning in 2000, <a href="/facts/Hometown_Village/QMH14Mr7">Hometown Village</a>, a retirement community for first generation Sakhalins, has operated in <a href="/facts/Ansan/4XYa05vs">Ansan</a>.
Due to differing language and immigration history, Sakhalin Koreans may or may not identify themselves as <a href="/facts/Koryo-saram/MKsBb4Cd">Koryo-saram</a>. The term "Koryo-saram" may be used to encompass all Koreans in the <a href="/facts/Post-Soviet_States/usrFwWTU">former USSR</a>, but typically refers to ethnic Koreans from <a href="/facts/Hamgy%25C5%258Fng/AKW17Mjm">Hamgyŏng</a> province whose ancestors emigrated to the <a href="/facts/Russian_Far_East/BT7sYGTP">Russian Far East</a> in the 19th century, and then were later <a href="/facts/Deportation_of_Koreans_in_the_Soviet_Union/M8K8jVyd">deported to Central Asia</a>. The issue of self-identification is complicated by the fact that many Sakhalin Koreans feel that Koreans from <a href="/facts/Central_Asia/rB8k0CyT">Central Asia</a> look down on them.

Sakhalin Koreans open-in-new

Sakhalin Koreans