Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/59392

KEYWORDS : Sakhalin Koreans;diaspora;repatriation;inclusion;exclusion

One of the main objectives of this paper is to examine the Sakhalin Korean repatriates in South Korea and how it exemplifies the politics of inclusion and exclusion and how these are intertwined with one another through interactions and negotiations among different interests and discourse that take place in multi-scale regulatory processes. Sakhalin Koreans moved to Sakhalin as early as the 1920s as subjects of Imperial Japan to work at the coal mines in Sakhalin. Many of them could not return to Japan nor Korea even after the end of the Second World War and many were forced to take North Korean or Soviet (Russian) nationalities. 1989 marked a turning point for the repatriation of Sakhalin Koreans as the South Korean government, in cooperation with the Japanese government, as well as the Japanese and Korean Red Cross, worked together to “bring back” the Sakhalin Koreans to their home. This paper examines the historical background to the Sakhalin Koreans, the repatriation or “return home” policy, how the politics of both inclusion and exclusion affect the Sakhalin Koreans, and the challenges that they face in Korean society today.