A Study Of Russia’s Policy On The Korea Immigration (1860-1917)

This paper thoroughly studies Russian immigration policies towards Koreanimmigrants dating from1860to1917, which was the end of the Russian FebruaryRevolution. By examining the changes of Russian immigration policy at differentperiods, this study reveals the underlying factors in the formulation of immigrationpolicy featured by flexibility and realism. Among these factors, state interests alwayscome first in the formulation and the changes of Russian immigration policy. Frommacroscopic and microcosmic perspectives, the process of policy changes isdiscussed against the background of Northeast Asia between the end of19thcenturyand the beginning of the20thcentury. This paper tries to provide the profoundviewpoints and accurate arguments.It is divided into three parts: Introduction, Body and Conclusion.The first chapter serves as Introduction. It covers the research purpose, researchsignificance, academic value and literature review in which the current studies athome and abroad are introduced. The innovation and inadequacy in research methodsare also referred to.The second chapter is the background of Russian immigration policy towardsKorean immigrants (1860-1882). It discusses the origin of Korean immigration intoFar East. This paper analyzes the historical background from the perspective ofRussian geographical conditions, the Korean domestic situations, the policy ofprohibition in Chinese Qing Dynasty, and the needs from Russian government.During this period, Russia took positive settlement policy towards Korean immigrantsand found the relative solutions to the risk of being heavily influenced by the newimmigrant settlers in Russian boundary regions. Russian government mainlyencouraged and supported Korean immigrants so as to develop vast Far East. The third chapter is about Russian central government’s policy of restriction andthe local government’s flexible attitude towards Korean immigration (1882-1905).This paper illustrates the reasons why Russia adjusts the immigration policy in theearly years of1880. Russia wanted the strategically significant South Usury under itscontrol. Russia had to consider how to avoid the dissatisfactions from China andKorea caused by the immigration policy. Therefore, Russia began to speed up theemigration of the inhabitants to Far East and eventually imposed the limitations onthe naturalization of Korean immigrants after many talks and negations with Chineseand Korean governments. In spite of the central government’s strict limitations, thelocal authorities especially under the Governors Dukhvshchi and G. Roger Kopfalong the Amur district liberalized the immigration policy towards Koreanimmigrants, which resulted in more Korean immigrants into Russia.The fourth chapter is primarily concerned with the new wave of Koreanimmigrants and Russian policy of containment (1905-1910). By analyzing the data ofthe new round of Korean immigrants, this chapter revealed the background againstwhich Russian government adopted new immigration policy towards Koreanimmigrants. Russia was defeated in the fight for Northeast Asia (1904-1905) and lostits advantage in the northeast area. After Russian-Japanese War, Japan gained thesuperiority over Russia in this area. Through Japan-Korea Treaty of1904andJapan-Korea Treaty of1905, Japan began to enslave the Koreans who couldn’t bearthe slavery and flooded into other countries. The Russian boundary area was filledwith “yellow element”. Therefore, both the central and the local governments setforth the policy of containment towards Korean immigrants. The central governmentencouraged Russians to emigrate to Far East.1n1910Russia issued Decree about thelimit to the immigration population under the Amur River jurisdiction and Irkutskjurisdiction, which marked the beginning of full-scale containment. Meanwhile thelocal authorities especially Wengteerbiege, the Governor of Amur River district, alsocarried out the exclusion polices toward Korean immigrants, who were even drivenout of some Russian factories and mines.The fifth emphasizes the transition from the policy of containment to the policyof encouragement (1910-1917). Both Far East and the international community witnessed dramatic changes during this phase of history. The Korean annexation byJapan in1910and the outbreak of the First World War in1914led to the adjustmentof Russian immigration policy towards Korean immigrants. After Korea was annexedby Japan in1910, a large number of Korean immigrants rushed into the Russian FarEast where they launched the anti-Japanese national movement. Japan negotiatedwith Russia and they assigned Russia-Japan Mutual Extradition Treaty which helpedto avoid unnecessary clashes between the two countries. Russia didn’t implement thepromise in order to check Japan. Between1909and1910Russian governmentorganized the Amur mission to the Far East where they carried out detailed survey onthe Koreans living in this area. The positive evaluation provided the basis for thepolicy changes from containment to encouragement. Thereafter, with the First WorldWar, Russia was in the desperate need of labors and soldiers. Under thecircumstances Russia relaxed restrictions on immigration and encouraged the Koreanimmigrants to apply for the naturalization as Russian citizens.The last chapter is Conclusion. It makes a summary of Russian immigrationpolicy towards Korean immigrants from1860to1917. It also makes an in-depthanalysis of the interaction among Russian immigration policy, the Korean immigrantpopulation and the changes in settlements. This chapter analyzes the internal andexternal effects on the making of Russian immigration policy. The internal effectmainly results from Russian economic and political situations. The external effectrefers to the countries such as China, Japan and Korea and the outbreak of some wars.It is under the influence of internal and external forces that Russia adopts and adjustsdifferent immigration policies at different periods of history.To sum up, Russian immigration policies towards Korean immigrants(1860-1917) are the important components of Russian national policies, and they arenot only the crucial part in the Russia Korea policy but also the Far East policy. Theshift of each Russian policy reflects the priority of state interests.