Dictionary:

Korean

  (kə-rē'ən, kô-, kō-)

1. A native or inhabitant of Korea.
2. The language of the Koreans, possibly in the Altaic family.

Of or relating to Korea or its people, language, or culture.

Korean emigration to Russia began in 1864 and continued until the late 1920s, when the Communist authorities managed to close the border. This migration was driven largely by the abundance of arable land in the Russian Maritime Province, as well as by political reasons. By 1917 there were some 100,000 ethnic Koreans residing in the Russian far east.

During the Russian Civil War, Koreans actively supported the Reds. However, in 1937 all Soviet Koreans in the far east were forcefully relocated to Central Asia, allegedly to undermine the Japanese espionage networks within their ranks. Until the late 1950s, Soviet Koreans largely engaged in farming, but after Stalin's death they began to move to the cities. By the 1980s Koreans had become one of the best-educated ethnic groups in the USSR.

In 1945 the USSR acquired southern Sakhalin from Japan. The area included a number of Korean workers who had been moved there by the Japanese colonial administration. Most of these workers came from the southern provinces of Korea. Until the 1970s they were not allowed to become citizens of the USSR, and held either North Korean citizenship or no citizenship at all. Within the Soviet Korean community, these Sakhalin Koreans have formed quite a distinct group.

Most of the Korean migrants initially spoke the Hamgyong (northwestern) dialect, which is quite different from standard Korean, although the Soviet Korean schools taught the standard Seoul dialect. From the late 1950s young Soviet Koreans switched to the exclusive use of Russian. Most Korean schools were closed in the late 1930s, but two Korean-language newspapers and a Korean theater survived. Korean was also taught as a second language in some schools in Korean villages. In Sakhalin secondary education in Korean was available until 1966 and a part of the Korean community still uses Korean.

After the collapse of the USSR, most Koreans remained in Uzbekistan (some 200,000) and Kazakhstan (100,000). The Russian Federation has an estimated 140,000 ethnic Koreans. Their numbers are rapidly increasing due to migration from Central Asia, where Koreans are often discriminated against. There is almost no return migration to South Korea.

Bibliography

Kho, Songmu. (1987). Koreans in Soviet Central Asia. Helsinki: Finnish Oriental Society.

—ANDREI LANKOV

Korean, used as a noun or as an adjective, may refer to:

• the Korean peninsula in East Asia – this article focuses on earth sciences
• Koreans, an ethnic group
• Korean language
• Korean War
• Korea, a nation and former state on the Korean peninsula – this article focuses on social sciences
• any or all of the cultures of Korea: traditional culture or North and South Korean contemporary culture
• North Korea, governed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
• South Korea, governed by the Republic of Korea

See also: Names of Korea, Korea under Japanese rule, Joseon Dynasty, and Goryeo

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - koreansk
n. - Korea

Nederlands (Dutch)
Koreaan(s)

Français (French)
adj. - coréen
n. - Coréen

Deutsch (German)
n. - Koreaner
adj. - koreanisch

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - Κορεάτης, κορεάτικα
adj. - κορεάτικος, Κορεάτης

Italiano (Italian)
coreano

Português (Portuguese)
n., -
adj. - coreano (m)

Русский (Russian)
кореец, корейский язык

Español (Spanish)
adj. - coreano, de Corea
n. - coreano

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - korean(ska)
adj. - koreansk

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
韩国的, 韩国语的, 韩国人, 韩国语

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 韓國的, 韓國語的
n. - 韓國人, 韓國語

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 한국의 , 한국인[어]의
n. - 한국인, 한글

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 朝鮮人, 韓国人, 朝鮮語
adj. - 朝鮮の, 韓国の, 朝鮮人の, 朝鮮語の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) اللغه الكوريه (صفه) كوري‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של קוריאה‬
n. - ‮בן קוריאה, קוריאנית (שפה)‬

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