Koryo-saram (Russian: Корё сарам; Korean: 고려사람) is the name which ethnic Koreans in the Post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves. Approximately 450,000 ethnic Koreans reside in the former USSR, primarily in the newly 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. Post-Soviet states in alphabetical order: 1. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... Volgograd (Russian: ), formerly called Tsaritsyn (Russian: ) (1598–1925) and Stalingrad (Russian: ) (1925–1961) is a city in and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. ... The Ethnolinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map Russia Georgia Azerbaijan (Azer. ... Far Eastern Federal District (highlighted in red) Russian Far East (Russian: Д́альний Вост́ок Росс́ии; English transliteration: Dalny Vostok Rossii) is an informal term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i. ...

Autonym

The name "Koryo-saram" appears to originate from the word "Korea" rather than from that of the Goryeo dynasty. Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the name Soviet Korean was also used. Russians may also lump Koryo-saram under the general label Koreisky (Russian: Корейский); however, this usage makes no distinctions between ethnic Koreans of the local nationality, and Korean citizens from North or South Korea. In Standard Korean, however, the term "Koryo-saram" is typically used to refer to historical figures from the Goryeo dynasty;^[1] to avoid ambiguity, Korean speakers use a word Goryeoin (Korean: 고려인) (with the same meaning as "Koryo-saram") to refer to ethnic Koreans in the post-Soviet states. The Goryeo Dynasty established in 918 ruled Korea from the fall of the Unified Silla in 935 until replaced by the Joseon dynasty in 1392. ...

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. Many peasants considered Siberia to be a land where they could lead better lives and they subsequently migrated there. By the early 1900s, about 300,000 Koreans lived in Siberia. Korean towns could be found in various cities and Korean farms were all over the countryside. The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) (also Choson), sometimes known as the Yi Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by General Yi Seonggye in what is modern day Korea, and lasted for five centuries as one of the worlds longest running monarchies. ... Siberian Federal District (dark red) and the broadest definition of Siberia (red) Udachnaya pipe Siberia (Russian: , Sibir; Tatar: ) is a vast region of Russia constituting almost all of Northern Asia. ...

In the early 1900s, both Russia and Korea came into conflict with Japan. 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 Korean Righteous Army to oppose Japanese forces. Nationalism is an ideology that creates and sustains a nation as a concept of a common identity for groups of humans. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... Far Eastern Federal District (highlighted in red) Russian Far East (Russian: Д́альний Вост́ок Росс́ии; English transliteration: Dalny Vostok Rossii) is an informal term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i. ... Manchuria (Manchu: Manju; Traditional Chinese: 滿洲; Simplified Chinese: 满洲; pinyin: Mǎnzhōu, Russian: ) is a vast territorial region in northeast Asia. ... Bolshevik (1920), by Boris Kustodiev. ... East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. ...

Deportation to Central Asia

Main article: Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union

In 1937, Stalin deported over 172,000 Koreans to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, on the official premise that the Koreans might act as spies for Japan. The total deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union, over 172,000 persons, in September-October 1937 from the border regions of the Russian Far East was part of the systematic Stalins policy of population transfer in the Soviet Union. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვი&#4314...

Modern distribution

According to the 1996 Commonwealth of Independent States report, 1,145 Goryeoin are living in the CIS, including 106,852 in Russia, 22,000 in Uzbekistan, 20,000 in Kyrgyzstan, 17,460 in Kazakhstan, 8,669 in the Ukraine, 2,000 in Belarus, 350 in Moldova, 250 in Georgia, 100 in Azerbaijan, and 30 in Armenia. Headquarters Minsk, Belarus Member states 11 member states 1 associate member Working language Russian Executive Secretary Vladimir Rushailo Formation December 21, 1991 Official website http://cis. ...

European Russia

The 2002 census gave a population of 148,556 Koreans in Russia, of which 75,835 were male and 72,721 female.^[2] Russian Census of 2002 (Russian: ) was the first census of Russian Federation carried out on October 9, 2002. ...

Russian Far East

There is also a separate ethnic Korean community on the island of Sakhalin. Unlike the communities on the Russian mainland, which consist mostly of immigrants from the late 1800s and early 1900s, the ancestors the Koreans in Sakhalin arrived in the late 1930s and early 1940s on the southern half of Sakhalin, then Japanese territory. Most had been forced into service by the Japanese government to work in coal mines, in order to fill labour shortages caused by World War II. At the peak, over 60,000 Koreans worked on Sakhalin.^{[citation needed]} Location of Sakhalin in the Western Pacific Sakhalin, GOST transliteration Sahalin, (Russian: , Korean: Traditional Chinese: 庫頁島; Simplified Chinese: 库页岛; pinyin: kùyèdÇŽo Japanese: 樺太 romaji: karafuto), also Saghalien, is a large elongated island in the North Pacific, lying between 45° 50 and 54° 24 N. It is part of the Russian... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...

The Soviet Union invaded the Japanese portion of Sakhalin on August 11, 1945, resulting the deaths of 20,000 civilians; in the following years, most of the 400,000 Japanese civilians left voluntarily under the auspices of the US-USSR Agreement on Repatriation of those left in the USSR, signed in December 1946. However, Koreans did not qualify, as Japan refused to accept non-Japanese nationals for repatriation; Stalin also reportedly blocked their repatriation to Korea because he wanted to retain them as coal miners in Sakhalin. For years, they were a stateless people forced to stay in Sakhalin.^{[citation needed]} August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1945 (MCMVL) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... A stateless person is someone with no citizenship or nationality. ...

Due to their greater population density and expectation that they would one day be allowed to return to Korea, the Sakhalin Koreans kept something of a sojourner mentality rather than a settler mentality, which influenced their relation to the surrounding society; even today, they tend to speak much better Korean than those who were deported to Central Asia. In recent years, commerce, communication, and direct flights have opened up between Sakhalin and South Korea. More than 1000 elderly Koreans in Sakhalin have since moved to South Korea, with many living in a Japanese-funded nursing home in Seoul, but with the economic rise in the region and the integration of younger Koreans into Sakhalin society, many Koreans are opting to stay in Sakhalin, as they have come to consider it their home.^[3]

Central Asia

Culture

Personal and family names

See also List of Korean family names and Cyrillization of Korean.

Many Korean surnames, when Cyrillized, are spelled and pronounced slightly different from the romanisations used in the US and the resulting common pronunciations, as can be seen in the table at right. The Revised Romanization of Korean (Korean: 국어의 로마자 표기법; 國語의 로마字 表記法) is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... Kang can mean: Kang, Botswana Kang bed-stove Kang (tribe) - tribe of Jatts Kang Chol-Hwan, defector from North Korea Kang - A common Korean last name. ... Kim is the most common family name in Korea. ... Park is one of the more numerous family names of the Korean people in Korea. ... This article is about the predominantly Korean surname Choi (최/崔채/蔡), sometimes transliterated as Choi, see Cai (surname). ... This is a list of Korean names, in Hangul alphabetical order. ... The Kontsevich system (Russian: Система Концевича/Sistema Kontsevicha) for the Cyrillization of the Korean language was created by the Russian scholar Lev Kontsevitch (Russian: Лев Концевич) on the basis of the earlier system designed by Aleksandr Kholodovich (Russian: Александр Холодович). It is currently the main system of transcribing Korean words into the Russian language. ...

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. The Korean name Hong Gildong (a common anonymous name, like John Doe in American English). ... This article gives the general understanding of naming conventions in the Russian language as well as in languages affected by Russian linguistic tradition. ...

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.^[4] 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 (e.g. Daniel Dae Kim, Harold Hongju Koh). The Korean name Hong Gildong (a common anonymous name, like John Doe in American English). ... This article gives the general understanding of naming conventions in the Russian language as well as in languages affected by Russian linguistic tradition. ... Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il [1]) (Korean: 김정일) (born February 16, 1941) is the leader of Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, a position he has held since 1994. ... A Cyrillization is a system for representing a language with the Cyrillic alphabet, where the source language use a writing system other than the Cyrillic alphabet (compare this to Romanization). ... Kim Il-sung (15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was the leader of North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il. ... A Korean American (Korean: 한국계 미국인, Hanja: 韓國系美國人, hangukgye migukin) is an American of Korean descent. ... Daniel Dae Kim (born August 4, 1968) is a Korean/American actor. ... Harold Hongju Koh (born December 8, 1954, Boston) is Dean of the Yale Law School (since July 1, 2004). ...

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, following the Chinese practice, 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. ^[5]

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 of Central Asia, many inhabitants, notably the Turkic peoples, had prefixes ov or ova added to their surnames; examples include even national leaders such as Nursultan Nazarbayev and Islam Karimov. However, Koryo-saram names do not follow this practise.^[5] Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev (Kazakh: Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев [Nûrsûltan Äbîshûlâ Nazarbayev]; Russian: Нурсултан Абишёвич Назарбаев [Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev]) (born July 6, 1940 in Chemolgan, Kazakhstan) is the current President of Kazakhstan, and the countrys only leader since independence from the Soviet Union. ... Islam Karimov Islam Abduganievich Karimov (in modern Uzbek: Islom Karimov, Russian: Ислам Абдуганиевич Каримов) (born January 30, 1938) has been the President of Uzbekistan since 1991. ...

Generation names

In Korea, it is common for siblings and cousins of the same generation to have one hanja syllable in common among all of their names; this is known as dollimja. Russians have no equivalent practise. Koryo-saram often do not have Korean names, because of a poor command of the Korean language among their relatives; however, birth records show that many siblings have been given Russian names starting with the same letters of the alphabet by their parents, indicating that the practise of dollimja has continued in a localised form.^[5] It has been suggested that Sino-Korean be merged into this article or section. ... Generation name is half of the two-Chinese character given name given to newborns in the same generation of one surname lineage. ...

Language

Due to deportation and the continuing urbanization of the population after 1952, the command of Korean among the Koryo-saram has continued to fall. This contrasts with other more rural minority groups such as the Dungan, who have maintained a higher level of proficiency in their ethnic language. In 1989, the most recent year for which data are available, the number of Russian mother tongue speakers among the Koryo-saram population overtook that of Korean mother tongue speakers. Dungan (Chinese: ; pinyin: dōng gān zú; Дунгане) is a term used in territories of the former Soviet Union to refer to a Muslim people of Chinese origin. ...

The dialect spoken by Koryo-saram is closer to that of Pyongyang than of Seoul, though somewhat mutated over the generations; many of those who retain some command of Korean nevertheless report difficulties communicating with South Koreans. Pyongyang is the capital city of North Korea, located on the Taedong River, at (39. ... Seoul (Sŏul[1] 서울)   is the capital and largest city of South Korea (Republic of Korea). ...

First language (native language, mother tongue, or vernacular) is the language a person learns first. ... First language (native language, mother tongue, or vernacular) is the language a person learns first. ... A second language is any language other than the first, or native, language learned; it is typically used because of geographical or social reasons. ... A second language is any language other than the first, or native, language learned; it is typically used because of geographical or social reasons. ...

Relations with Korean expatriates

Probably as a consequence of ethnic ties, South Korea was the second largest import partner of Uzbekistan, after Russia, and one of its largest foreign investors. The car manufacturer Daewoo set up a joint venture (August 1992) and a factory in Asaka, Andizhan province, in Uzbekistan. This article is about the chaebol Daewoo Group. ... A joint venture (often abbreviated JV) is a strategic alliance between two or more parties to undertake economic activity together. ... Asaka (Cyrillic: Асака) is a city in Andijan Province, Uzbekistan, located to the east of Andijan in the Ferghana Valley. ... Andijan (also Andijon, Andizhan, Andizan) is a city of western Uzbekistan. ...

The 2005 South Korean film Wedding Campaign, directed by Hwang Byung-kook, portrays two aging bachelor farmers from rural villages who hope to find wives. Having no romantic prospects in Korea, they opt to go through an international mail-order bride agency, which sends them to Uzbekistan and tries to match them with Korean women there.^[6] Korean cinema encompasses the motion picture industries of North Korea and South Korea. ... Mail-order bride is a label applied to a woman who lists herself in a catalog or with a marriage agency that publishes her intent to marry someone who lives far away. ...

Prominent Koryo-saram

In cultural fields

• Alexander Kan, Russian-language fiction writer.
• Anatoly Kim, Russian-language fiction writer. [1]
• German Kim, head of the Department of Korean Studies at Al-Farabi University, Kazakhstan, and a leading scholar in the history of Koryo saram.

German Nikolaevich Kim (Russian: Герман Николаевич Ким) is Head of the Department of Korean Studies at Al-Farabi University, Kazakhstan and one of the leading internationally-recognised scholars of the Koryo-saram. ... Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Kazakh: ), often shortened to Al-Farabi University, is a university in Almaty, Kazakhstan. ...

In entertainment

• Roman Kim, one of the top contestants on Kazakhstani entertainment programme SuperStar KZ
• Victor Tsoi, lead singer of the Russian band Kino and a major figure in the development of the Soviet rock scene in the 1980s.

Roman Kim Roman Kim (Rus: Роман Ким) (born December 16 1985 in Temirtau, Kazakhstan) is a singer who rose to popularity after placing second in SuperStar KZ, the Kazakh version of Pop Idol, shown by Perviy Kanal Evraziya. ... SuperStar KZ Logo. ... Grave of Victor Tsoi, 1992. ... Kino (Кино) was a Russian rock band headed by Viktor Tsoi. ...

In politics

• Mikhail M. Kim, delegate to the 17th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union [2]
• Georgy Kim, Kazakhstan's Minister of Justice. [3]
• Kim Gyong Chun (金擎天/김경천), leading anti-White Army partisan leader in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. [4]
• Kim Jong-il, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, born in Vyatskoye.

The Congress of the CPSU was the gathering of the delegates of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its predecessors. ... Combatants Red Army (Bolsheviks) White Army (Monarchists, SRs, Anti-Communists) Green Army (Peasants and Nationalists) Black Army (Anarchists) Commanders Leon Trotsky Mikhail Tukhachevsky Semyon Budyonny Lavr Kornilov, Alexander Kolchak, Anton Denikin, Pyotr Wrangel Alexander Antonov, Nikifor Grigoriev Nestor Makhno Strength 5,427,273 (peak) +1,000,000 Casualties 939,755... Kim Jong-il (also written as Kim Jong Il [1]) (Korean: 김정일) (born February 16, 1941) is the leader of Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, a position he has held since 1994. ... Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Krai Vyatskoye (Russian: ) (also found romanized as Viatsk or Viatskoe) is a small fishing village on the east side of the Amur river in the Russian Far East, 70 km northeast of Khabarovsk, in Khabarovsk Krai. ...

References

1. ^ See, for instance, the Koryo-saram category on the Korean wikipedia
2. ^ Федеральная служба государственной статистики (2002-10-09). Russian Census. Press release. Retrieved on 2006-07-26.
3. ^ "A battle for workers in Russia's Far East", International Herald Tribune, 2002-09-02. Retrieved on 2005-07-07.
4. ^ Chang, Jon. "Central Asia or Bust". Koream Journal, Feb 2005. Chang noted that in a Korean cemetery in Uzbekistan, most of the gravestones were enscribed only in Cyrillic, and most of the deceased had a patronymic derived from a Russian given name.
5. ^ ^a b c Kim, German Nikolaevich. "Names of Koryo-saram." Unpublished. Translated to English by Steven Sunwoo Lee and posted on his website; retrieved from Google cache here
6. ^ Kim, Tae-jong. "Farmer Looks for Love in Upcoming 'Wedding Campaign'", The Korea Times, 2005-08-21. Retrieved on 2006-10-16.

For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... A news release, press release or press statement is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 26 is the 207th day (208th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 158 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 7 is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 177 days remaining. ... Categories: Stub | English-language newspapers | South Korean newspapers ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 16 is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years). ...

See also

• Dungan, the Turkic name for Hui Chinese who settled in Central Asia.
• Korean American
• Workers' Party of Korea, whose predecessors were founded by Korean nationalists in exile in the Soviet Union.

Dungan (Chinese: ; pinyin: dōng gān zú; Дунгане) is a term used in territories of the former Soviet Union to refer to a Muslim people of Chinese origin. ... The Hui people (Chinese: 回族; Pinyin: ) are a Chinese ethnic group, typically distinguished by their practice of the Islamic religion. ... A Korean American is a person of Korean ancestry who was either born in or is an immigrant to the United States. ... The Workers Party of Korea (WPK; Korean chosŏngŭl: 조선로동당; hanja: 朝鮮勞動黨; McCune-Reischauer: Chosŏn Rodong-dang; revised: Joseon Rodong-dang ) is the ruling party of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. ...

External links

• Soviet Census data analyzed by mother tongue and second language, in English
• Koryo Saram: The Unreliable People (documentary film)
• Koryo Saram Resource links of the Central Asian Fulbright Project