In 1946, the Soviet Union and North Korea concluded an agreement to collaborate on the development of
fisheries. By the terms of the agreement, 2,000 North Korean migrant workers would go to various parts of the
Russian Far East, including
Sakhalin and Kamchatka, from May to July of that year. Another 2,200 followed in 1947. Workers worked on contracts of various lengths, from several months to several years. Exactly how many North Koreans went to Kamchatka is not known. One survey published in 2020 estimated their number to have been 50,000 between 1946 and 1949. The
SS Zyrianin had a record of 2,200 North Korean workers going to
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky from North Korea in 1947. They came from various parts of North Korea; 700 were from
Myongchon, 1,000 from
Kilju, 875 from
Toksong, and 415 from
Hyesan. Working conditions were difficult. In 1947, 300 Koreans died due to an epidemic. Others died from the cold or from starvation. 1,952 (0.41%) in 1989, 1,749 (0.49%) in 2002, and 1,401 (0.43%) in 2010.
Shifting identity According to later interviews, when they first arrived, they were looked down upon by native residents and discriminated against. Koreans in Kamchatka visited and associated themselves with North Korea until at latest the late 1980s. An interviewer estimated that original residents visited North Korea an average of three times. However, as North Korea became more closed off and
South Korea democratized and
became economically successful, they began to associate themselves with (and visit) the South more. One interviewee said: One original immigrant (born in 1928, moved to Kamchatka in 1949) said of this in a 2016 interview: The highest density of ethnic Koreans in Kamchatka now live in
Yelizovo. The total population of Koreans in Kamchatka was estimated to be around 1,800 by one researcher in 2020. The population had been intermarrying into the community by the 1990s. == Coverage ==