Abstract
To eliminate potential threats to Soviet peace on its borders, Stalin ordered 100,000 Koreans, living on Soviet settlements in the Far East, to what is now Central Asia to “stop Japanese espionage activity” near the Soviet-Korean borders in 1937. After the deportation, they established farms and contributed greatly to rice and cotton production in Central Asia. Following Khrushchev’s repeal of harsh measures against minorities, some Koreans moved to more economically promising regions, such as the Caucasus, where the fertile fields seemed to ensure greater harvests. Thus, many Koreans continued in the tradition of agricultural labor even after professional opportunities became available in the late 1950s. Attempts to maintain the Korean language and Korean customs slowly were overcome by the aggressive, dominant Soviet culture. Subsequent generations of Koreans in Russia assumed more Sovietized identities, thereby creating a new hyphenated ethnic identity. In the late 1980s, these small farming communities experienced the most enthusiastic ethnic and cultural re-identification movements in response to incoming South Korean missionaries and a collapsing economic system. The missionaries came bearing more than truth to a vulnerable ethnic community longing for a return to Korea. In response, South Korean missionaries incorporated nationalism in their services creating a new ethno-religious culture among Korean-Russian agricultural communities. Thus, religion among the Korean ethnic minority groups of Russia has been ethnicized, nationalized, and abused.