Tens of thousands of Koreans were brought over to Sakhalin as conscripted labor by the Japanese during World War II to work on the part of the island that Tokyo controlled. Many of them never saw their homeland again.
Dozens of ethnic Koreans, who were taken to Russia s southern island of Sakhalin by forced mobilization under the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule, have returned to their home country by sea with their descendants. A total of 63 Sakhalin Koreans arrived in Donghae, Gangwon Province, Friday, and 27 more will travel here on March 31. They are among 334 Sakhalin Koreans selected in 2021 by a government project to help them gain permanent residency and settle here following the enactment of the Special Act on assistance to Sakhalin Koreans the previous year.