I am covering trend, food and fashion. Previously, I covered diplomacy, city, environment and unification.
Ethnic Koreans celebrate 150th anniversary of immigration to Russia
Dignitaries pose during a ceremony to unveil a monument to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Koreans’ emigration to Russia, at Sister Cities Square in Vladivostok on Aug. 15. In the front row are, from left, Mary Gann, acting consul general of the United States; Lee Seok-bae, consul general of South Korea; Lee Se-ung, chairman of the Korea-Russia Arts & Culture Society; Viktor Gorchakov, chairman of the legislative assembly of the Primorsky region; Valentin Pak, chairman of the Association of Korean Organizations of Primorsky region; and Im Chon-il, consul general of North Korea. In the back row are, from left, Igor Agafonov, ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in Vladivostok; Alexander Yurov, vice head of Vladivostok; Alexey Starichkov, director of the Department of International Cooperation of Primorsky region; Brahma Kardji Rupchjioti, consul general of India; and Nguyen Ai Chung, vice consul general of Vietnam. / Courtesy of Seoul Cyber University
By Kim Se-jeong
By Kim Se-jeong
Ethnic Koreans in an eastern Russian city are celebrating the 150th anniversary of their ancestors’ arriving in the country.
A stone statue commemorating the occasion was unveiled during a ceremony at Sister Cities Square in Vladivostok on Aug. 15, Korea’s Liberation Day.
Last year was the 150th year since Koreans began crossing the border into Russia in 1864, but the monument was unveiled in 2015 instead to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea’s independence.
Valentin Pak, a second generation Korean-Russian artist, designed the monument. He is chairman of the Association of Korean Organizations in the state of Primorksky Krai.
“For many ethnic Koreans who are scattered across Russia and Central Asian countries, this region is like home,” Pak said during a ceremony. “People of Korean ethnicity are all Koreans regardless of where they live.”
The monument commemorating the 150th anniversary of Koreans’ immigration to the Primorsky region
Lee Se-ung, chairman of the Korea-Russian Arts & Culture Society based in Korea, said, “Despite its historical importance, the Primorksky region has had nothing to commemorate these people. This monument will serve that purpose, helping a growing number of visitors to the city remember an important chapter in Korean history.”
It is unclear exactly how many people crossed the border from the Korean Peninsula. Soviet Union statistics recorded a population of more than 100,000 Koreans in 1923.
Many were deported to Central Asia in the 1930s under suspicion that they were spying for Japan, a country Russia had gone to war with decades earlier. A large number are believed to have died right after the deportation because of the harsh living conditions.
Currently, almost 500,000 ethnic Koreans are living in these regions, with the largest amount in Uzbekistan.