Education and mobility of Korean diaspora in Sakhalin

Koreans in the Russian Sakhalin Island are mostly South Koreans who were conscripted to work in the resource-rich island during the Japanese colonial rule. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Sakhalin Koreans were unable to return home due to Soviet economic interests to keep them as workers. They underwent various types of acculturation, namely separation, marginalization, assimilation, and, currently, integration. Formal schooling and public education were the main tools of the assimilation policy under the veneer of Soviet citizens’ rights stipulated in the Constitutions of 1936 and 1977. This review article examines history and education of Sakhalin Koreans, and discusses the conditions of interaction between Koreans and the host society as well as with ‘mainland’ Russian Koreans. Key stages of education for Sakhalin Koreans are identified, which were under the education policies set by the central Soviet, Federal, and regional governments aimed at integrating Koreans into the mainstream society. Attention is also paid to language education.