LH Supports Housing for Sakhalin Koreans Returning to Their Homeland

Rental Housing Provided to 122 Sakhalin Dongpo Households This Year
Rent and Deposit Supported by Government Housing Benefits

Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) announced on the 13th that it will provide housing in LH rental apartments for Sakhalin Koreans and their accompanying families (122 households, totaling 210 people) who have entered the country since April. The recipients of this housing support are households selected as permanent returnees and settlement support targets for Sakhalin Koreans last year through the Overseas Koreans Office.

On the 13th, the Incheon Regional Headquarters of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) conducted consultations and contract signings for Sakhalin Koreans returning to Korea to move into LH rental housing.
[Photo by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH)]

The rental housing support project for permanent returnee Sakhalin Koreans is a program that supports the domestic settlement of Koreans who were forcibly relocated to Sakhalin, Russia during the Japanese colonial period but were unable to return to Korea after liberation and have lived in Sakhalin, along with their accompanying families. When LH provides rental housing, the government pays the deposit and rent through housing benefits.

Contracts for a total of 122 households in 22 complexes nationwide, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Busan, will be signed on the 13th and 14th at LH’s Incheon Regional Headquarters and Busan-Ulsan Regional Headquarters for households that entered the country since April.

LH supports rental housing by allocating homes mainly in existing Sakhalin Korean residential complexes and nearby complexes, reflecting the demand for preferred residential areas as much as possible so that Sakhalin Koreans can adapt and settle stably in their homeland.

Such rental housing has been supplied to about 2,000 households since the 2000s, starting with the 'Ansan Hometown Village Apartments.' The Ansan Hometown Village Apartments are Sakhalin Korean-exclusive apartments (50-year public rental) built by LH as a pilot project for the permanent return of Sakhalin Koreans.

In 2022, LH opened the 'Eouldeoul Senior Rest Center' at Gachon University and the Ansan Hometown Village Apartments. Additionally, as part of tailored rehabilitation services for the elderly, massage equipment and rehabilitation/general exercise equipment were replaced considering the residents’ ages, and exercise rehabilitation services are also provided. LH received a plaque of appreciation from the senior citizens’ association of this complex for these efforts.

Ko Byung-wook, Head of LH’s Housing Welfare Headquarters, said, "We will continue to support rental housing so that returning Sakhalin Koreans can settle stably," and added, "We also plan to improve the residential environment so that they can live in better conditions."