Fearing Japanese espionage in the Soviet Far East, in 1937 Stalin deported some 170,000 Koreans from these border areas to uninhabited regions in northern Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan. These Koreans had originally settled in Primorye after fleeing famine on the Korea peninsula in the 1860s. Today, the number of Koreans living outside the peninsula counts up to seven million people, and more than 300,000 live in Central Asia as a result of this massive deportation.

On arriving to Central Asia after an exhausting train journey on the Far Eastern Railway, some Koreans were hosted by the local population. Many others had to build earth dugouts to survive in the steppes. As Soviet officials could not memorise Korean first names, new arrivals were given Russian ones, but were allowed to keep their family names. They integrated into the Soviet “melting pot” and adopted Russian, the Union’s lingua franca, as their language. The Korean population participated in the Soviet agricultural plan, cultivating rice, onion, garlic and other vegetables on their collective farms. According to historian Valery Khan, Korean-run farms distinguished themselves for high labour productivity.

Khan, an ethnic Korean living in Uzbekistan, writes that “Koreans could forget and suppress a sense of humiliation and resentment” over Stalin’s deportation by applying themselves to work on the land in the collective farms - their work ethic earned them the respect of the local population. Before Stalin’s death in 1953, the Korean population in Central Asia was not allowed to study at university or serve in the army. The Soviet leadership feared they could engage in espionage for the enemy or even switch sides.

Nowadays, many ethnic Koreans are part of Central Asia’s growing middle class: they run their own small businesses, such as restaurants and beauty salons, and enjoy a good standard of living. But in recent years, a rising number of Central Asian Koreans are travelling to their historic homeland to search for a better life for themselves and their family. They view Korea as a wealthy nation where they can earn much higher salaries than back home, part of which can be sent home to build houses, buy apartments, cars, and other commodities. They join the millions of Central Asian labour migrants mostly living in Russia and Kazakhstan, and whose remittances constitute a significant percentage of their countries’ GDP.

According to figures provided by the Korea National Statistics Office, 3,625 overseas Koreans arrived in the country from Central Asia in 2017, compared to only three people in 2008, a year after the long-term visas for overseas Koreans were launched. Between 2007 and 2017, 12,885 Koreans from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan have moved to Korea. Many of them do not have higher education and come to Korea to earn money fast and then return home, living in cities such as Incheon, Ansan and Gimhae, where many Koreans from Central Asia and Russia reside.

Should I stay or should I go?

Central Asian Koreans are open about their reasons to migrate and, in general, express the desire to return home after having accomplished their aims. Usually, these can be summarised as earning enough to buy an apartment and a car, and, if possible, to open a business back home. Migrating to Korea became easier with several immigration policy changes for citizens of post-Soviet countries initiated by the Korean government in the second half of the 2000s.

With little knowledge of Korean language and of the procedures to legalise their status as labour migrants once in Korea, Central Asian Koreans ended up mainly working in so-called “3D” factories, where work is “dirty, dangerous, and difficult”. They construct details for refrigerators and air conditioning units, build Korean cars and ships, oil pipelines for export, do electroplating, make plastic materials and other industrial works, contributing to the country’s steady economic growth.