The long-delayed repatriation of the Sakhalin Koreans: Cold war challenges and resolutions, 1945-1992

During World War II (WWII), tens of thousands of Koreans were forcibly mobilized to Karafuto (southern Sakhalin Island) to serve as labourers in Japan’s wartime economy. When the war ended in August 1945, the Soviet Union occupied the region and the Koreans ceased to be Japanese colonial subjects. While 99% of the Japanese in Karafuto were repatriated by April 1950, the Koreans became trapped in a Cold War standoff between the Soviet Union, North Korea, and South Korea that was not fully resolved until the 1990s. As such they became double victims of global forces that paid little heed to their calls for justice and humane treatment. This thesis explores the complicated process by which the Sakhalin Koreans were long prevented from returning to their homeland. The analysis focuses upon the geo-political and socio-economic repercussions of the Cold War in northeast Asia, most notably the complex triangular relationship between Moscow, Pyongyang, and Seoul. The thesis argues that postwar hardships and authoritarian governing structures in all three countries, the Korean War, and domestic and international concerns that took precedence over the resolution of injustices dating back to WWII, led to successive delays in the full resolution of the matter. The three central issues addressed in this thesis are: Cold War politics relating to divided Korea, the post-WWII economies of the Soviet Union and South Korea, and Soviet-South Korean relations after the introduction of perestroika, glasnost, and nordpolitik in the 1980s.1 1 Perestroika (Russian, “restructuring”) and glasnost (Russian, “openness”) refer to a series of political, economic and social reforms introduced by the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev in mid-1980s. Nordpolitik (German translation for “Northern Policy”) was South Korea’s foreign policy introduced by the President Roh Tae Woo in 1988 with efforts to reconcile and normalize relations with “northern countries” including the Soviet Union and China. Keywords “Sakhalin Koreans,” “Korean Repatriation,” “Cold War Politics,” “Post WWII Socio-Politics in South Korea,” “Post WWII Soviet-North Korean Alliance,” “North and South Korean rivalry,” “perestroika,” “South Korean nordpolitik,” “Soviet-South Korean Relations.”

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor dc:publisher

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Yoo, Sohee

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Charrier, Philip

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ganev, Robin
• Germani, Ian

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.82465/4207

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uregina.scholaris.ca:10294/9005