Deportation of the Koreans of the Soviet Far East (1937)

Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) I. Stalin

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR V. Molotov

To propose to the Far Eastern Territorial Party Committee (Bolsheviks) and the NKVD of the Far Eastern Territory to evict all Korean population of the border regions of the Far East and relocate to the South Kazakhstan region, to the Aral Sea and Balkhash and the Uzbek SSR.

To prevent the penetration of Japanese espionage into the Far Eastern Territory, the following measures should be taken:

To proceed immediately to the eviction and finish by January 1, 1938.

Do not obstruct resettled Koreans to leave if they wish to go abroad, allowing a simplified procedure for crossing the border.

Increase the number of border troops by 3 thousand people. To consolidate the protection of the border in the areas from which the Koreans are resettled.

in the Far Eastern krai virtually all Koreans, numbering some 171,000 people, had been resettled in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan by October 1937.

36,442 families consisting of 171,781 persons were deported to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

According to the published data, 172,5 thousand people were deported, 28,200 died on the way, the deficit of the birth was 17,300. In total Koreans lost 45,500 people because of deportation, i.e. 26,4% from the number of all deported

In the “thaw” times some deported Koreans became deputies, scientists, cultural and art activists. They became able to move to other regions of the USSR.

On September 28, 1937 the Sovnarkom of the USSR (parliament) approved complementary decree No 1647-377cc “on deportation of the Koreans from the territory of the Far East region,” which in fact defined the fate of all Koreans from the territory of the whole country.

Even though part of the Koreans tried to resist deportation, any escape abroad was impossible – the border guarding was very strong.