How Stalin’s Paranoia Led To A Whole Ethnic Group Being Forcibly Relocated To A Foreign Land

In 1937 on Stalin’s orders 170,000 men, women and children were forcibly deported from the Russian far-east to Central Asia in a terrible journey many did not survive. This is the tragic story of the Koryo-saram.

Photo by Aurora Wheeler on Unsplash

Driven by Stalin’s suspicion and the impeding war with Japan, 170,000 Koreans were forcibly deported from their homes in a horrific forced relocation to Central Asia.

Koreans in the Russian Far-East

Koreans had been living in what is now known as the Primorsky Krai or the Russian far-east since as early as the late Qing dynasty (19th century). Over the good part of a century a large number of Koreans had trickled into the area. This had been escalated by the Japanese colonisation of Korea and the forced confiscation of farming land in 1910.

With active support from Moscow, these Korean settlers became an important part of this area laying down numerous Korean Soviets (Councils) as part of the policy of Korenizatsiya. The Korean population ballooned as Japan tightened its grip around Korea and this area became a thriving haven with numerous…