‘I consider myself Korean’: Koryo Saram, ethnic Koreans in Central Asia, keep their roots alive

Two of her shops are in Incheon, a city northeast of Seoul, where she lives. The city houses a large community of Koryo Saram. More than 5,000 live in Hambak village, where signs in Russian line the streets. Her other shops are in Ansan in Gyeonggi province, another area where a large community of Koryo Saram live.

Ms Irina Kim and her children are among more than 100,000 Koryo-ins mainly from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan living in different parts of South Korea. Most Koryo Saram enter South Korea through a preferential employment permit for…