The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    BTS' Jungkook to drop 2nd solo single

  • 3

    PHOTOSTrapped along borders

  • 5

    Opposition leader Lee again proposes talks with President Yoon

  • 7

    BTS' Jungkook drops 2nd solo single

  • 9

    Korea fails to be included on FTSE Russell's global bond index

  • 11

    Yoon hosts Chuseok luncheon for Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima

  • 13

    VIDEOBustling Chuseok: Namsan Hanok Village immerses visitors in Korea's rich traditions

  • 15

    Builders vie for leadership in modular construction

  • 17

    Following successful Asiad debut, swimmer Hwang Sun-woo turns eyes to bright future

  • 19

    S. Korea cruises past N. Korea in women's basketball

  • 2

    Korea wins gold in League of Legends competition; Faker tops podium

  • 4

    Trailblazing nonagenarian artist honored for redefining Korean fiber art

  • 6

    Pentagon's CWMD strategy document calls N. Korea 'persistent threat'

  • 8

    Are 'finfluencers' helping or harming investment community?

  • 10

    Apple, China met to discuss Beijing's crackdown on western apps: WSJ

  • 12

    Swimmer Kim Woo-min captures 3rd gold in Hangzhou

  • 14

    Second release of Fukushima wastewater to start next week

  • 16

    My left arm: how right-handed shooter won Asiad medal with left hand

  • 18

    S. Korea eliminates N. Korea in women's table tennis doubles

  • 20

    Korean fencers prove their unrivaled prowess in Asian Games with 6 golds

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
National
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Sun, October 1, 2023 | 01:31
Andrei Lankov
An alien-free country
Posted : 2014-09-21 17:03
Updated : 2014-09-21 17:05
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Andrei Lankov

According to South Korean statistics, 1.6 million foreigners reside in South Korea (almost 3 percent of the country's total population). But what about South Korea's northern neighbor? How many foreigners reside permanently in North Korea?

We are not talking here about foreign embassy staff or international relief agency staff. They are a relatively small group that, together with their families, number less than 1,000. Additionally, this group is composed of individuals who usually only spend a few months or few years inside the country before leaving. They also seldom speak Korean and are almost always kept isolated from North Korean society at large.

Currently, there is only one group of permanent foreign residents in North Korea. This is the hwagyo, Chinese residents of North Korea; citizens of China whose ancestors moved to Korea in the early 20th century. Once upon a time, there was a significant number of hwagyo, but of late their numbers have dwindled to 5,000 or so.

Unlike other foreigners, hwagyo live lives not all that different from the lives of the average North Korean. They usually work in regular North Korean factories and companies. They live in the same kinds of houses as North Koreans. Nowadays, however, hwagyo tend to be rich because their ability to travel to China more or less freely has provided them with many lucrative business opportunities.

The North Korean government looks upon the hwagyo with a great deal of suspicion, but it is understood that these people are protected by the mighty neighbor and are therefore best left alone.

Hwagyo is by far the most important group of foreign residents in Pyongyang, but it is not the only one. While the North Korean government has always been quite suspicious of foreign residents within North Korea's borders, there was a time when some foreigners were grudgingly tolerated within the country.

At the time of liberation in 1945, North Korea was a home to a significant number of Japanese settlers. Nearly all of them were forcefully expelled from the country. Nonetheless, a few dozen Japanese who married Korean nationals were allowed to stay. Technically, they were not categorized as foreigners because they were given North Korean citizenship (so far as the author is aware, they were all women).

At the same time, Soviet Koreans began to arrive in the North in 1945. These people were Soviet citizens of Korean extraction sent to Pyongyang to act as both advisors and supervisors of the emerging North Korean government (providing it with expertise while also making sure that it did not stray from Soviet prescriptions). If we include their family members, there were nearly 1,000 Soviet Koreans who were living in Pyongyang in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Their legal standing at the time was rather ambiguous. Most of them kept their Soviet citizenship, but often failed to renew their passports at the time. This did not really matter until 1957 when the Soviet and North Korean governments agreed that they would no longer allow dual-citizenship ― thus forcing the Soviet Koreans to make a fateful choice.

Nearly all of these people were subsequently purged as relations between Moscow and Pyongyang deteriorated in the late 1950s. Many ended up in concentration camps, while others were fortunate to flee to the Soviet Union. Only a handful survived unscathed, but the ones that did were no longer Soviet citizens.

Another group of foreign nationals was the foreign wives of North Korean students dispatched overseas for studies in the 1950s. These men sometimes married women from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. In the 1960s however, the North Korean government decided that such women were potentially dangerous and so their North Korean husbands were ordered to divorce their foreign wives (who were expelled from the country). No letter exchanges between the separated couples were allowed subsequently. There were a few dozen such women, and by the late 1960s they had all gone.

Another small group of foreign residents included political refugees. These were usually political radicals from Asian and African countries (as well as their family members). Such people had come to North Korea seeking asylum. We have no statistics on this group, but it is likely to be very small: in the region of a few dozen. Recently, a former member of this small community, Monica Njuema, the daughter of an overthrown African dictator, published a memoir about her experiences in Pyongyang.

Nonetheless, in spite of all exceptions, it would be but a minor exaggeration to say that North Korea has no foreign permanent residents. Frankly, for North Korea's leaders this is good news, since this is exactly what they want for their country.

Professor Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. You can reach him at anlankov@yahoo.com.

 
miguel
wooribank
LG
Top 10 Stories
1Guide to Chuseok celebrations across Korea Guide to Chuseok celebrations across Korea
2Chuseok exodus begins ahead of extended 6-day holiday Chuseok exodus begins ahead of extended 6-day holiday
3Korea sees record-low births in July Korea sees record-low births in July
4Hyundai E&C to build upmarket apartment complex in Seoul's Gwanak District Hyundai E&C to build upmarket apartment complex in Seoul's Gwanak District
5Political battle intensifies after court rejects Lee's arrest warrant Political battle intensifies after court rejects Lee's arrest warrant
6Korea on track to prove esports prowess at Asian Games Korea on track to prove esports prowess at Asian Games
7[INTERVIEW] Risk-averse culture is forcing daring creators to flee showbiz INTERVIEWRisk-averse culture is forcing daring creators to flee showbiz
8Lotte focuses on health care, mobility to spur growth Lotte focuses on health care, mobility to spur growth
9DMZ Open Int'l Music Festival to be held in Goyang in November DMZ Open Int'l Music Festival to be held in Goyang in November
10Two Koreas trade barbs over nuclear war Two Koreas trade barbs over nuclear war
Top 5 Entertainment News
1[INTERVIEW] 'Coexistence of different art hubs across Asia is necessary': Art Week Tokyo Director INTERVIEW'Coexistence of different art hubs across Asia is necessary': Art Week Tokyo Director
2Trailblazing nonagenarian artist honored for redefining Korean fiber art Trailblazing nonagenarian artist honored for redefining Korean fiber art
3[INTERVIEW] With '30 Days,' Kang Ha-neul finds new level of comfort in acting INTERVIEWWith '30 Days,' Kang Ha-neul finds new level of comfort in acting
4Rwandan artists bring diversity to Seoul's art scene Rwandan artists bring diversity to Seoul's art scene
5[INTERVIEW] ONEUS returns as 'mermaid prince' INTERVIEWONEUS returns as 'mermaid prince'
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group