From the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 until 1945, Japan‘s invasions of Asia and the Pacific required a steady supply of people and resources.
The mobilization of the entire Joseon population and Joseon resources began. Young men and students, women and young girls, no one was exempt. 7.8 million people were called to action, with at least 1.25 million sent overseas to serve in other locations around Asia and the Pacific.
When Japanese colonial rule ended in 1945, many of the Joseon people sent abroad returned home. Many of them were injured or sick. And while some had died, some of the living would never see home again.
Sakhalin Island, former USSR, present-day Russian Japan gained control of the southern part of Sakhalin during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.
Sakhalin, a military stronghold, was rich in coal and lumber, but there was a very difficult to overcome: the freezing cold and heavy snowfall.
Such harsh conditions made work difficult. It was the reason many Joseon people were sent to Sakhalin by the Japanese. It’s estimated that at least 30,000 Joseon were sent there.
Joy over their country’s liberation was brief for the Joseon on the island as, unlike those sent to other areas, the people on Sakhalin were unable to return home.
The USSR regained control of Japanese Sakhalin and took over the Joseon workforce.
Once this happened, Japan was eager to get only its people off the island but left the Joseon behind. Japan worried that helping the Joseon people would interfere with Japanese repatriation efforts. Japan even opposed a U.S.-Soviet Agreement for the Joseon people’s repatriation.
With their home so far away, the Joseon people had nowhere to go.
They stayed on the island and continued their hard labor. The only change was that their orders came from the Soviets instead of the Japanese.
The Joseon people also faced a cruel death during Japanese repatriation efforts. On August 20, 1945, in Mizuho, present-day Pozharskii, 27 Joseon people were killed on suspicion of being spies for the Soviet Army.
Among the Joseon left in the now Soviet-occupied areas, including Sakhalin, were men conscripted into the Japanese army.These soldiers were sent to forced labor camps all over Siberia as prisoners of war. 10% of these soldiers died from either starvation or the cold. One can imagine how harsh the conditions in these camps were.
The Joseon people lived in fear under the constant surveillance of the Soviets, but they always believed they would one day return home.
However, the road home would be closed for good with the start of the Korean War in 1950.
The Korean Peninsula was divided, the Cold War era began, and Russia and South Korea wouldn’t form diplomatic ties until 1990. Only then did the two countries talk about the issue of the Koreans on Sakhalin.
Bak Ro-hak, a Korean born on Sakhalin, and several others worked hard to get Korean and Japanese politicians to focus on the Sakhalin issue. They finally visited their homeland to establish diplomatic relations between Russia and South Korea.
It took nearly half a century after the country’s liberation before the Sakhalin Koreans could set foot on Korean soil again.
However, all the while, many first-generation Koreans had died in that strange land. The opening of the road home was too late for them. Some wonder if any of those who have passed on had ever forgotten their homeland.
In 2016, there were 15,100 confirmed Korean graves in South Sakhalin. 85 graves were excavated, and the remains were repatriated to South Korea.
The number of Joseon sent to Sakhalin: 30,000. Half a century later, many are still buried there.