Koryo-saram: Terra Incognita
During the Soviet Era, Central Asian countries became a cultural melting pot upon the arrival of German and Jewish academics, Ukrainian farmers, Russian workers, Chinese Uyghurs, Chechens, Tatars and Koreans. Germans and Jews, previously respected researchers, served as teachers and uplifted the nation’s education system, Ukrainians used their agricultural experience to create farms, while Koreans’ roles went relatively unrecognised for many decades. A product of the dictator’s paranoia, any ethnic group deemed as a threat to the Communist Party was sent to the unforgiving tundras of central Asia. After a great famine spanning across two harvests, the populations of these remote regions were decimated and needed an entire workforce. Throughout the 1930s, 170,000 Koreans, among them 36,000 families, were forcibly displaced from Russian territory and carried in freight trains to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Rebuilding life from scratch in impoverished towns proved to be a harrowing trial. Thrust from their familiar fishing and farming villages into a steppe, they were placed in labour camps and vast, previously uninhabited, swathes of land. Despite the conditions, Koreans managed to construct collective farming villages and eventually settled into Kazakh life with help from welcoming locals. They continued to work as manual labourers, hairdressers, and traders, even opening up sewing parlours in cities. Slowly, they began to forge their path in this terra incognita.
Climbing the Ranks
While initially considered an “Enemy of the State” along with a myriad of other minorities, Koreans were taking on larger roles in the community and were recognised for their efforts. Out of 3,500 individuals awarded for their contributions to the USSR during the Second World War, 1,000 of them were received by Korean Kazakhs. Another 200 were declared “Heroes of the Socialist Effort” during the turbulent years following the Second World War. The ban on travel was finally lifted, allowing some to return to their homeland. But over 100,000 stayed.
This relatively tiny community continued making waves throughout the Soviet Union, including a Korean-Russian singer called Victor Tsoi. Some of his most notable movies were filmed in Kazakhstan, such as The Needle, a Kazakh film on heroin addiction that swept the country during the turbulent Reconstruction. But it was his provocative lyrics that gripped the new Soviet generation the most. A recurring motif in his songs was the fear of living a meaningless life and about his burning desire to experience anything but comfort. In a socialist dictatorship, people’s entire lives were already planned out for them - the job they would have, the house they would live in, the clothes they would wear, the schools their children would go to. His lyrics redefined what comfortable Soviet life meant to young and old alike, to the point where even my generation is familiar with his iconic songs.
Victor Tsoi, a legendary singer whose songs aching for change gripped republics across the USSR.
Redefining Nationality
Koryo-saram were branching out into all sectors of the Soviet Union, producing notable military generals, filmmakers, athletes, trainers, businessmen and even fashion designers. Kazakhstan’s Koryo-saram have become the most successful community in the country. Kazakhstan’s richest person is Vyacheslav Kim, a member of the Koryo-saram and the CEO of an electronic financing bank that revolutionised payments and transfers in the country. Vladimir Kim is a major stakeholder of KAZ Minerals, a copper-producing company quoted on the London Stock Exchange. Denis Ten was one of Kazakhstan’s most successful athletes, scoring an Olympic figure skating medal and two World Championship medals for the country.
While the Koryo-saram have retained their hardworking nature, some of their success can be attributed to the successful assimilation that they have made in their new countries. Kazakhstan became somewhat of a cultural capital for the Koryo-saram as the only city with a Korean newspaper in circulation and an operational Korean theatre. By contrast, Koreans in Uzbekistan faced more obstacles after the country gained independence, as they could speak Russian but not Uzbek, leading to them losing their jobs and being scattered throughout rural areas.
As a product of Stalin’s distrust of almost all non-Russian groups, central Asia became so unbelievably diverse that Kazakhstan’s own native ethnicity was a minority at the time of independence. Local populations helped the new arrivals adapt to harsh climates and realities, resulting in them holding keystone positions in cities. Being suppressed under the Soviet Union, Central Asian countries understood the value of welcoming those who were forced to turn their lives upside down instead of ostracising and demonising them.
Truth be told, the USA and a few European countries could learn a thing or two.
Bibliography
https://www.forbes.com/profile/vyacheslav-kim/
https://bucheon.uz/ru/news/koreyskaya-diaspora-v-centralnoy-azii-istoriya-kultura-i-socialnaya-zhizn