Between Motherland and Fatherland: Biographies and Lives of the Sakhalin Koreans

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2026-1/35-47

Abstract

Sakhalin Koreans are a unique, isolated group of Korean people, historically connected to both Japan and Russia. Since they found themselves on the territory of the Soviet Union in the aftermath of WWII, they dream was that of returning to their Fatherland of South Korea. As it became possible in 1990s, many of Sakhalin Koreans repatriated to their homeland, but some of those repartees later chose to come back to Sakhalin seen by them as their Motherland. This paper explores the reasons behind their unexpected choice and concludes that those include cold reception in South Korea, better chance of political and economic self-realization in post-Soviet Russia and changes in value system. For Sakhalin Koreans, unlike for those in South Korea, motherland rather meant place where their children were, not their parents.