Returning Home After 80 Years... 270 Sakhalin Koreans Including a 100-Year-Old Grandmother, Permanent Return to Korea

This year, 270 first-generation ethnic Koreans who migrated to Sakhalin during the Japanese colonial period due to forced labor, along with their descendants, will return to Korea for permanent residence for the first time. Among them is a centenarian.

According to the Ministry of Overseas Koreans on the 9th, 100 Sakhalin Koreans, including 92-year-old grandmother Choi Gun-ja, will arrive as a group by taking a 24-hour passenger ship from Vladivostok Port in Russia to the Donghae Port International Passenger Terminal in Gangwon Province. Another 170 people, including 100-year-old grandmother Lee Son-gwi, will enter individually considering their advanced age and other circumstances. These individuals were selected last year as beneficiaries of the Sakhalin Koreans' permanent return and settlement support program.

The Ministry of Overseas Koreans and the Korean Red Cross, which oversee the permanent return project, will hold a welcoming ceremony for the group at the International Passenger Terminal on the same day. The event will be attended by Byeon Cheol-hwan, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Overseas Koreans, and Park Eun-young, Director of the Korean Red Cross Headquarters, who plan to greet the ethnic Koreans stepping on their homeland after about 80 years. After the ceremony, the Koreans will move to various parts of the country to settle down.

Deputy Director Byeon said, "While there is excitement, there is also great concern, but the Korean government will always stand with the Sakhalin Koreans so that their new beginning in the homeland will not be lonely," adding, "We will do our best to listen to the voices of the Sakhalin Koreans and help them settle stably in Korea."

Director Park said, "The return of the Sakhalin Koreans is not just a simple return but a process of solidarity that heals and restores historical pain," adding, "The Korean Red Cross has supported their return and settlement for decades and will continue to cooperate to ensure they can settle stably in Korea."

The government is implementing a domestic settlement support project for ethnic Koreans and their families who migrated to Sakhalin during the Japanese colonial period but could not return to their homeland after liberation, under the 'Special Act on Support for Sakhalin Koreans.' Last year, an amendment to the related law expanded the eligibility for permanent return support from the existing 'one direct descendant' to include children.