The Tragedy of Russian Koreans

     In The Manchurian Tales, I attempted to give the readers a glimpse of the tragedies suffered by the Russian Koreans, in this case, the much smaller group that ended up in Manchuria and called itself uhl mao zeh.  The vast majority of Russian Koreans, however, ended up in the Soviet Central Asia, in a god forsaken region into which they were banished by Stalin.  Stalin, who was a member of ethnic minority himself (Georgian), nevertheless showed racist tendencies and actually conducted ethnic cleansing when he deported the Russian Koreans from Primorsky Krai, the Russian Far East.  These Russian Koreans are known today by the name of koryo saram (koryo person).  A curious name, considering that Koryo Dynasty(918-1392 AD), from which the name Korea is derived, existed centuries before Korean migration into Russia had taken place in large numbers in the late 1800s during the Chosun Dynasty (the last Korean Dynasty before Japanese rule).  So, you would think that chosun saram would be a more appropriate name.  However,  I believe that the name koryo saram came into use by Russian Koreans in more recent times, after 1945 when North Korean state was established.  The communist north calls itself Chosun In Min Kong Wha Guk, which translates into People's Democratic Republic of Korea.  I believe that the Russian Koreans wanted  to differentiate themselves from the North Koreans who call themselves chosun saram.  The South Koreans, incidentally, call themselves hanguk saram, and never use the name chosun to refer to themselves.
     As I have mentioned in the earlier blogs, the Russian Koreans, despite cruel and shabby treatment by the Soviet government, still managed to pull themselves up and succeed in many areas, including politics.  Ironically, the treatment of ethnic Koreans by Russian government was much better under the old Tsarist regime.  Under the old system, if you were a Russian citizen and of Russian Orthodox faith, you were accepted regardless of your ethnicity.  Therefore, many Russian Koreans, those with ability and education, could rise to high positions before the revolution.  It seems that the more educated members of the Russian society were much more accepting of ethnic minorities than the less educated masses that took power after the revolution.  That seems to hold true in any society, including our own.  The more educated members of the society tend to be more tolerant and accepting of other ethnic and religious groups than the less educated.  So, after the revolution, the Russian Koreans that remained in Russia were faced with a rather unfriendly regime that had either chased off or killed off most of its educated classes.  The Russian Koreans were treated like second class citizens and banished  to border regions by the new regime.  It took the WWII, to allow Russian Koreans, who excelled in military service and academia, to move up in the Soviet society.
     The much smaller group of Russian Koreans that managed to escape to Manchuria had a different experience from their brethren who stayed in Russia.  First off, before 1931 and Japanese take over, they were in a much freer society, and those who had money could afford to send their children to be educated abroad. Even after Japanese rule in 1931, they still had more freedom than under Soviet system.  Many of these uhl mao zeh were educated in Europe and some even in America.  They became multi-lingual and cosmopolitan.  They did not experience racism and discrimination like those who stayed in Russia.  Their relationship with Russians in Manchuria was on equal footing.  The Russians who escaped to Manchuria were of better educated class as well.  But, unlike those that remained in Russia and were deported to Central Asia, the uhl mao zeh, as well as their Russian counterparts, were stateless, without a country.  At least those that were in Russia and Central Asia had Soviet citizenship!  The uhl mao zeh were people without a place to call home.  So it was a trade-off of sorts, for relative freedom that they enjoyed, the uhl mao zeh had no country to call their own.  On the other hand, the ones that called themselves koryo saram, lived in a communist state with no personal freedom, but did have a country to call their own, the Soviet Union.  Either way, whether they were uhl mao zeh or koryo saram, their history is full of incredible tragedies, both at a personal level as well as the entire group known as Russian Koreans.