1. KOREANS IN ETHNIC-NATIONAL POPULATION STRUCTURE OF
UKRAINE: THE PROBLEMS OF ETHNIC RENAISSANCE
In this article I propose to analyze several aspects that characterize the current
stage and prospects of the Korean ethnic community development in Ukraine. This
analysis will be conducted in the context of two, in my opinion, the determining
factors of modern social development of our country in the field of interethnic
relations: 1) dynamic changes in the ethno-national structure of Ukrainian society, 2)
ethno-political renaissance, characteristic of virtually all components of this structure.
So, nowadays the ethno-national structure of Ukraine’s population consists of 130
ethnic groups. As for the types of ethnic communities, in the ethno-national structure
of our country today we can distinguish the Ukrainian nation and ethnic minorities.
However, the Constitution of Ukraine the thing is also about indigenous peoples. In
our opinion, the concept of "indigenous people" unreasonably got in legal documents
of Ukraine, as it is not defined and according to the traditional perception of
indigenous peoples in international practice, it can not be applied in the Ukrainian
context. Some differences are observed also in the perception of the concept "ethnic
(national) minority". Unlike many multi-ethnic European countries, the legal
framework of our country makes possible to enroll as minority almost all ethnic
groups’ representatives, now living in Ukraine. In particular, according to the Law of
Ukraine "On National Minorities in Ukraine", "to the national minorities appertain
the groups of citizens of Ukraine who are not Ukrainian by nationality, exhibit a
sense of national self-awareness and affinity" [1]. The discussions in recent years (at
the theoretical and practical levels), the analysis of national minorities’ rights
realization in other multiethnic countries (e. g. Hungary, Slovakia) stimulates to more
clear definition of the criteria that could point us whom among the representatives of
one or another ethnic groups of Ukraine we can enroll to the national minorities. In
particular, it concerns their quantitative complement, duration of their residence in
this area and so on. Talking about the ethnic structure elements, today we have
proposed to define them as follows: Ukrainian ethnos (Ukrainian ethnonation); ethnic
groups – among them, with uncertain status (indigenous peoples / national minorities)

2. and the national minorities; the representatives of certain ethnic groups. Hereby we
should make some comments. Ukrainian ethnos – the most numerous ethnic
community of Ukraine. As for the ethnic groups with uncertain status, the Gagauz,
Karaites, Crimean Tatars, Krymchaks can be referred to them.
In the absence of clear criteria for the definition of "national minority" in the
Ukrainian political and legal framework and official practice (ethnopolitics) we offer
as part of this analysis to use the criteria, that were laid in the base of the concept
"national minority" definition by the parties to a joint working group of the Council
of Europe and Ukraine while working on a pilot project "Education Policy and
Minorities. Ukraine." In passing, we note that they are based on the F. Kapotorti’s
famous definition of the concept "national minority" [2]:
the group of population, which differs from the basic group of population in its
ethnic origin or its nationality, or its language, or its religion; by its number is inferior
to the basic group; does not occupy a dominant position in the country; demonstrates
the desire to preserve its identity and its culture, traditions, religion or language; does
not consist of recent immigrants or refugees; has the deep roots in the country of
residence (usually the citizens of this country).
I will add to this, the group of people which has a sufficient number of
individuals, who perceive themselves as members of this group and are able to
reproduce their identity through participation in the activities of ethnic organizations,
artistic groups, the creation of conditions to preserve and develop their language and
so on. That is to have the internal reserves to achieve, by R. Breton, "the Institutional
fullness" of the national minority structures [3].
Let's consider the Korean ethnic community of Ukraine in the context of such a
structure. For this recall, that Koreans are not the indigenous population of our
country, they are the community, that has formed in Ukraine through immigration. It
is known, that Koreans came to Ukraine from the former Soviet Union; they lived
mostly in the Far East and later in Central Asia. The organized migration of Koreans
to the North Crimea occurs at the beginning of 1960. The motivation of this process
was the economic motive – the introduction in Ukraine of such agricultural crop as
rice. The comparison of the three censuses indicates a certain dynamics of the Korean

3. component in the ethno-national structure of Ukrainian society: 1 341 (1959), the 4
480 (1970), the 6 061 (1979), the 8 669 (1989), the 12,711 (2001). The Koreans now
occupy the 115th place among the ethnic communities and minority groups of other
ethnicities’ representatives.
On this characteristic Koreans can be referred to such component of ethno-
national structure of Ukrainian society as the national (ethnic) minority. However, in
the previous classification of this structure components, proposed by me, Koreans are
not represented [4]. But the development of Korean ethnic community at the turn of
the last and present centuries gives some reason to reflect about the place of Koreans
exactly in this category of mentioned classification. To confirm these thoughts I turn
to the criteria of the "national minority" concept definition, which was discussed
above. Today, all those whom we name the Koreans, by their ethnic origin differ
from the basic group of population (Ukrainians), they certainly yield in numbers to
this basic group; they do not occupy the dominant position not only in country, but
also in places of their compact settlement; they have to some degree deep roots in the
country of residence and, according to preliminary calculations, the overwhelming
majority is the citizens of Ukraine. It is worth adding, that in favor of the thesis
concerning the inclusion of Koreans of Ukraine to the category of "national minority"
indicates the type of settling structure – they are settled mainly in several regions and
cities of Ukraine, that is, we can speak about their relatively compact settlement.
Thus, in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, according to Census 2001, reside 2877
people, in Mykolaiv region – 1 751, in the Kherson region – 1253, in Odessa – 773,
in Kiev – 384. This factor contributes to the internal consolidation of ethnic
community, that helps its reproduction as the specific social community of Ukrainian
society and sustainable component of its ethno-national structure.
Another group of criteria by which Koreans can be attributed to national
minorities, is associated with those that determine the nature of ethno-political
renaissance. This is the efforts to preserve and develop their ethnic identity, their
ethnic culture, ethnic traditions and so on. In this context it is important to note that
the term "ethnic renaissance" is used to denote the phenomenon of dynamic changes
inside the ethnic communities. This term is more appropriate to use while talking

4. about the revival of ethnicity (ethnic minorities) in the framework of multi-ethnic
countries, where the political nations emerged with the clearly defined dominant
majority and the other ethnic components of the ethno-national structure are
integrated in these nations. In the frame of the integrative processes of ethnic
movements in such countries from time to time the activation of minorities ethno-
cultural life is observed, sometimes the relations between the latter and the dominant
majority are exacerbated (usually in the context of power structures’ ethno-politics
practice). Two motives are the most characteristic for the following processes: 1) the
desire of minorities, generally stimulated by the leaders of their organizations, to take
a good niche in the social life of one or another country, 2) dissatisfaction with the
state of ethnic and cultural rights of minority groups and ethnic policy of the state.
As for ethno-political renaissance among national minorities, here we should
pay attention to two things: 1) intense "awakening" of ethnic self-consciousness and
the desire to revive the ethnic identity, 2) finding the ways to participate effectively in
social and political processes, to self-assertion as effective factors state creation with
occupation the respective niches in the economic and political life of the new state. In
the first aspect at least two features are fixed:
a) the particular revival character of that national minorities, which also before
the independence demonstrated the quite high level of internal cohesion (this
phenomenon we call "ethnic solidarity") [5], that allowed to store and to some extent
develop their ethnic identity (Bulgarians, Moldavians, Poles, Romanians,
Hungarians). Here the process of ethnic revival had the sufficient ground for its
intensification and the question is more in terms of establishing themselves as acting
factors of state-creative processes and strengthening their influence on decision
making, at least, at local and regional levels;
b) in separate group we can distinguish those national minorities, where the
recovery process occurs too fast, but they had not such basis as, say, the minorities
mentioned above. This group could include Azerbaijanians, Belarusians, Armenians,
Greeks, Germans, Roma, Tatars, Slovaks, Czechs, Koreans and some others. Among
these minorities the intensive formation of their ethnic organizations eventuated, as
well as opening of schools or classes with ethnic teaching languages took place, also

5. the periodic or episodic releases were founded, etc. We can say, that the system of
"institutional fullness" was being formed. However, they actively started to take part
in social and political processes and to seek the status of effective factor (as distinct
ethnic groups) in official policy forming, at least in the field of ethnic-national
development.
Among the typical and most characteristic features of national minorities’
ethnic revival we can name the following: 1) the formation of organizations with
predominant membership of one ethnicity; 2) the activities of art groups that gather,
reconstitute and promote the folklore, traditions and customs of their ethnic groups;
3) functioning of state schools with full, partial or episodic teaching in ethnic
languages; 4) the presence of secondary special and higher educational institutions
that train specialists in ethnic minorities languages, or in which the special courses
are taught (mainly concerning the philology cycle and ethnology character); 5) press
issues in ethnic languages or for ethnic minorities – they appear with different
intervals and in different editions; 6) television and radio broadcasting for national
minorities; 7) publication of literature (not just textbooks) in national minorities
languages.
As for Koreans in Ukraine, the significant number of these ethnic revival
features is peculiar to them. Thus, the researches of the Center of Etnosociological
and Ethnopolitical Researches of Institute of Sociology of NAS of Ukraine recorded
the energetic activity of national-cultural societies in Luhansk, Kharkiv, Mykolayiv,
Donetsk, Cherkassy, Kherson regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. It
concernes also such cities as Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa. I note, that the
first Korean societies emerged in the early 1990s, just when the active processes of
Ukrainian independent state formation started. It is somewhat symbolic – the revival
of Koreans as an organized community in the ethno-national structure of Ukraine
coincides with the revival of Ukrainian ethnicity within the framework of the
independent state. The Association of Koreans in Ukraine was registered in 1992.
Today, the Kyiv Association of Koreans, the Koreans regional organization (Luhansk
region), the Association of Korean culture (Kharkiv region.), the Korean culture
Society (Mykolaiv region), the Korean culture Society (Cherkasy region), the

6. Koreans Organization "Kore" (Kherson region) are functioning. Speaking about the
activity of Korean organizations, we should bear in mind two things: 1) their intra-
organizational activity, as I observed, is fairly high; 2) in quantitative terms, they are
small amount; according to researchers only the small part of Koreans participate in
the activities of ethnic organizations [6]. However, due to the fact, that before the
independence of Ukraine such organizations did not exist, we can affirm, that their
activity today is adequate to the tempos of ethnic revival.
Actually, this is the evidence of Koreans ethnic revival process, as well as one
of the conditions to classify them as the national minority. Because the presence and
activities of ethnic organizations are the sign of "institutional fullness" of ethnic
community, which under these conditions may have become the actor of ethno-
national processes of the country of residence.
Another typical feature of ethnic revival – the activities of art groups, that
reconstitute and promote the folklore, traditions and customs of their ethnic groups –
certainly characteristic of Koreans in Ukraine. The investigations of the formation of
ethno-cultural space of Ukraine confirm their active participation in this process.
Since Ukraine's first Korean Culture Festival (1995), the presence of this
community’s culture is appreciable not only regionally but also at the national level.
For example, the celebrated decade of the Kyiv Association of Koreans (2002), the
Korean ensembles participation in the TV program "Pleyada" ("Not so bad in our
house", January 2004) and other art content actions show, that the Korean ethno-
cultural component is tangible, or at least becomes such, in the cultural life of the
whole Ukraine.
However, in other aspects, that indicate the "turbulence" of ethnic revival,
Koreans do not take such strong positions. So far, there are no public high schools,
wherever studied the Korean language. Instead, the Sunday schools appear in the
places of compact settlement, particularly in the Crimea, Kharkiv, Kyiv. It is
predictable, that in the process of Koreans ethnic revival in Ukraine, the need to learn
the Korean language will increase because, for the census in 2001 the following
language situation was recorded: 2223 (17.5%) persons spoke Korean language, 9662
(76.0%) – Russian language and 700 (5.5%) – Ukrainian language.

7. At first glance it may be noted, that among Koreans in Ukraine is the very low
percentage of those, who speak the language of their nationality. However, taking to
consideration the total russification in the former Soviet Union and especially in the
environment of small amount ethnic communities, these figures are good prospects of
Koreans returning to their language and its more active use in everyday and social
life. This has certain favorable conditions linked primarily with the legislature for its
process. We mean the Law of Ukraine "On National Minorities in Ukraine" (1992),
under which the national minorities have the right to preserve and develop their
identity in all its manifestations.
In my opinion, to the ethnolingual renaissance of Koreans in Ukraine can
contribute the fact, that the Korean language is studied at Kyiv National Taras
Shevchenko University, National Linguistic University; the functioning of Korean
firms in Ukraine, the exchange in the sphere of culture, education and information
between Ukraine and Korea also contribute to this. As for other features of ethnic
revival (the presence of the press, television and radio broadcasts, publication of
literature in Korean), it is evident, that the language environment is still insufficient
for these ethnic renaissance attributes functioning.
Thus, Koreans in Ukraine are stable component of its ethnic-national structure;
they function in the ethnic-national area of our country as the ethnic community,
which is able to reproduce itself in demographic and cultural context. One of the most
pressing problems in the process of ethnic renaissance of Koreans in Ukraine is to
return to their ethnicity via the revival of language, culture, traditions and customs.
Another important problem (noting, not only for Koreans, but also for all national
minorities, being at the ethnic renaissance point) is the problem of integration into
Ukrainian society. The question is not the resistance to this integration, but some
contradiction between the content of the two most obvious trends of modern ethnic-
national development of Ukraine. The first of them is the desire to build the national
state. It is personified the most concentrated by the representatives of Ukrainian
ethnos, the majority of national minorities members. The debate is waged largely
around the question how to implement this longing. It is obvious, that under the
Constitution of Ukraine our state is unitarian [7]. This can create the impression, that

8. the trunk priority of the ethno-political revival in Ukraine is the ethnically
homogeneous state, the assimilation of other components in the Ukrainian ethnic
background and the ethnic homogenization of society. The second trend – ethnic
identity revival of the other elements of ethnic-national structure is accompanied by
the growth of ethnic solidarity, internal group unity and the intensification of
minority rights ethnic movements.
Analyzing the interaction of these two trends and the impact on this interaction
of both objective and subjective various factors, we should bear in mind several
circumstances: 1) the historical continuity of many ethnic groups representatives
conflict-free (with rare exceptions) coexistence in the territory of modern Ukraine; 2)
the subordination factor, and even to some extent, the national oppression, the ethno-
social Ukrainians community and representatives of other ethnic groups development
opportunities restrictions; 3) the future identity development of the Ukrainian society
ethnic-national structure elements due to Ukraine's independence declaration; 4) the
principles of ethnic-national policy of the Ukrainian state and its implementation
mechanisms, 5) the positions of ethnic fatherland states concerning parts of their
ethnic groups, which are situated within the frame of Ukrainian ethno-political
organism, 6) the interaction possibilities of ethnic groups different parts, including
Ukrainian, 7) the foreign policy priorities and orientation of Ukraine.
On condition of the skilful ethno-political management, which should be based
on sturdy legal framework and knowledge of poly-ethnic society rules and
development features, these factors can certainly have the positive impact on the
contradiction between integration and the desire to preserve ethnic identity
overcoming. For Koreans in Ukraine, then in my opinion, in this case to resolve this
seemingly contradictory is not too difficult. The basis for this assertion is the high
level of tolerance in relations between Koreans and ethnic majority (Ukrainian) and
between Koreans and the members of other ethnic communities of Ukraine, the
positive image of Koreans due to their qualities such as diligence, absence of conflict
and the disposition to integration.
Talking about the ethnic renaissance among Koreans in Ukraine and the issue
of their ethnocultural requests satisfaction in the context of Korean ethnic community

9. organizational and legal functioning, then in my opinion, the most adaptable form for
them would be the national-personal autonomy. Exactly within the frame of such
autonomy, which expects the inclusion of all the representatives of any nationality in
its sphere of influence, regardless their settlement nature in the Ukrainian territory,
arises the possibility of their unity and ethno-cultural development needs satisfaction.
References:
1. Law of Ukraine "On National Minorities in Ukraine". – K., 1993. – P. 4.
2. Capotorti F. Study on the Rights of Persons Belonging to Ethnic, Religious
and Linguistic Minorities. – New York, 1979 (UN Doc. E/CN/4/Sub/2/384/Rev. 1,
UN Sales No. E. 78 1V1). – P. 96.
3. Breton R. Institutional Completeness of Ethnic Communities and the
Personal Relations of Immigrants // American Journal of Sociology. – 1964. – Vol.
70 . – № 2.
4. Yevtukh V. Tendenciyi etnonacionalnogo rozvytku ukrayins’kogo suspilstva
// Etnichni spilnoty Ukrayiny. – Kyiv: Feniks, 2001. – S. 6. (Yevtukh V. Trends in
ethnic-national development of Ukrainian society // Ethnic community of Ukraine. –
Kyiv: Phoenix, 2001. – P. 6).
5. Jewtuch W. Ethnischer Antagonismus und ethnische Solidaritaet in den
Laendern Nordamerikas // Migrationsforschung. – 1989. – Heft 22.
6. Im Jon San, Pan Il Kvon. Proekt stvorennya kompyuternoyi merezhi dlya
spilnoty ukrayins’kykh koreyciv, yaki prozhyvayut’ na pivdni krayiny // Suchasnyy
stan ta perspektyvy naukovo-kulturnogo obminu mizh Ukrayinoyu i Koreyeyu. – K.,
2001. – S. 127. (Im Jon San, Mr. Il Kvon. The project of computerized network
creation for the community of Ukrainian Koreans living in the South of the country //
Current state and prospects of scientific and cultural exchange between Ukraine and
Korea. – K., 2001. – P. 127).
7. Constitution of Ukraine. – K., 1996. – P. 4.