- Title : The Influx of the Ukrainian War Refugees and the Expansion of the ‘Koryoin Village’ in Gwangju
- Author : Kayoung Ko(HK Research Professor)
- Journal : Homo Migrans 28
- Publication Date : 2023.5
- Abstract
The war that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine turned into a protracted one. The war in Ukraine, with its complex characteristics of civil war, interstate war, and proxy war, has generated the largest number of war refugees in Europe since World War II. Ukrainian refugees, mainly women and children, were welcomed in neighboring countries, unlike those from the Mena region. Among these refugees are Koreans. About 1,200 Koryoins from Ukraine who became refugees after the outbreak of the war entered Korea.
It is the Koryoin Village community in Gwangju that actively promotes the entrance of Koryoin refugees from Ukraine. It started with the bringing of the children of Goryeoins living in Wolgok-dong, where the Goryeoins from Ukraine built a village. In the beginning, only teenagers or younger children were brought in by providing airline tickets, but gradually entire families, women and children, stateless Koreans, and the elderly entered the country with air tickets provided by Koryoin Village people in Gwangju. The personal experiences of these refugees provide an in-depth understanding of the war.
These Ukrainian refugees were able to settle down owing to the existing infrastructure of the Goryeoin Village in Gwangju, and the influx of these people allowed the Goryeoin Village in Gwangju to expand further. However, the hospitality for the Ukrainian refugees is limited to help for the compatriots who suffered disasters rather than that for war refugees. Therefore, in Korean society, Koryoins who have been refugees from the war in Ukraine are referred to as “Koreans who escaped from Ukraine” rather than refugees. Through this, we can acknowledge the reality of selective acceptance of refugees in Korean society. In the future, Korean society will have to go beyond the selective hospitality that requires special modifiers such as 'special contributors' or 'disaster-stricken compatriots' and move toward a society that can positively accept refugees even if they are just 'refugees'.
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