The ILS History Club continues to thrive, led by eleventh grade student Cho Jung Min. Each club meeting attracts more of our students from South Korea, a clear sign that their interest in the history of Vladivostok and Primorye Region is on the rise.
Club members recently visited a site with great significance for their own nation, Vladivostok’s Korean Quarter. The excursion was led by the well-known Russian Far Eastern writer and journalist Vasily Avchenko, author of the books “Crystal in Transparent Frames,” “Vladivostok Globe” and “Right-Side Steering.” Vasily is highly knowledgeable about the history of Vladivostok and was very pleased to show our students around this secluded corner of the city. His lecture for the students was in Russian, translated by eleventh grader Eon Jin Sim.
“The Koreika Region, as it was known in pre-revolutionary Vladivostok, has undeservedly been forgotten, and today there is only one house left to remind us of what was once an extensive area,” Vasily Avchenko explained to the students. “The plaque on the building shows the original address: 2 Seoul Street.”
He also told them how the quarter was established, what it was like to live there, and also about the Soviet government’s decision in 1937 to deport all the Koreans to Central Asia to harvest cotton.
“It was very interesting to visit the quarter,” said Eon Jin Sim. “This is a significant story for us, as Koreans. It’s very important to know what happened to our fellow Koreans, and today we had a chance to visit the past, to spend time in places where older generations of Koreans lived.”
Despite the general outflow of Koreans from Vladivostok, some remained and kept their families going. Vasily noted that the rector of Maritime State University, Sergei Alekseyevich Ogai, and the rector of Far Eastern State Fishing Technology University, Georgyi Nikolayevich Kim, are ethnic Koreans.
One notable person who lived in the quarter was Yen Nam Tsoi, and our students were pleasantly surprised to learn that he was the great grandfather of the famous Russian musician Viktor Tsoi.
“It’s good to know that our fellow Koreans, despite being displaced, achieved so much in their careers and carry weight in society,” said Cho Jung Min.
During the excursion, the ILS students visited a monument on Khabarovsk Street being erected in memory of Koreika Region and the events that took place here many years ago. At the monument site, they met Vyacheslav Lee, chairman of the Council of the National Cultural Association of Russian Koreans. Vyacheslav told the students how the monument would look and showed them the plans for the site. Our students took a keen interest in the project, concluding that it was a symbolically appropriate end to their visit.
“It is important for our foreign students to know the history of their fellow Koreans who lived in Vladivostok, even though it was many years ago,” noted ILS Director Olga Shevchenko. “We thank Vasily for his excellent lecture and wish the History Club every success with its further development and interesting excursions.”
