STRONG BRIDGE OF FRIENDSHIP
On April 21-23, President of the Republic of Korea, Moon Jae-In, is on a state visit to Kazakhstan as part of his tour of Central Asia.
During the negotiations at the highest level a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation was discussed. Moon Jae-In also visited Almaty and met with representatives of the Korean ethnos, got acquainted with the life of Koreans in Kazakhstan.
In 2017, we celebrated the 80th anniversary of Koreans living in our country. The initial history of Kazakhstani Koreans is connected with tragic events. As well as representatives of many other ethnic minorities, they appeared on our land as a result of political cataclysms of 30-40th years of XX century. They have rendered influence and have defined destinies of the whole peoples.
The scale of this tragedy today is difficult to understand. The deportation of Koreans from the Far East in 1937 became a special page. 90 echelons brought to Kazakhstan 20,789 families - 98,454 Koreans. Among them were outstanding personalities, people's heroes of Korea Hong Bong Do and Ge Bon Woo, who are buried on the Kyzylorda land.
Koreans of Kazakhstan due to the strength of spirit, unity, diligence passed all these tests and became one of the ten largest ethnic groups living in the republic.
A special role in the fact that Koreans found their homeland in Kazakhstan were tolerance, hospitality and support of the Kazakh people. Even today, these qualities are the basis for inter-ethnic understanding, accord and friendship, as well as Kazakhstani patriotism.
The organizations of Koreans of Kazakhstan were among the first to come forward with an initiative to erect monuments of gratitude to the Kazakh people.
The first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Yelbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1997 in his greeting to the participants of the jubilee celebration devoted to the 60th anniversary of the Koreans' life on the Kazakh land, highly appreciated the hard-working Korean ethnos: "For 60 years of living in Kazakhstan Koreans not only have not turned into a dust of history, have not assimilated, as it was once said, among "hundred nations and nationalities", but also, having preserved, in many respects even having enriched the national customs and traditions, have brought and bring the worthy contribution to social and economic and spiritual development of the republic. And this life force, will and determination - to withstand any blows of fate, you will agree, provide a basis for an optimistic assessment of the present and confident view of your future.
The representatives of the Korean ethnos in Kazakhstan have grown a whole galaxy of talented statesmen and public figures, housekeepers, scientists, writers, architects, doctors and teachers, sportsmen and artists.
Koreans gave more than 60 doctors and about 400 candidates of science to the science of Kazakhstan.
Prose writers, playwrights and poets are known in Kazakhstan: Yong Sung Nyong, Alexander Kan, Kim Kwang-Hyun, Yang Won Sik, Nam Heryon and others.
The head of the National Scientific Heart Surgery Center, Yury Pya, made a significant contribution to the development of health care in Kazakhstan. Thanks to his works, Kazakhstani cardiac surgery is among the 22 most developed in the field of cardiac surgery in the world.
The Korean Education Center and Cultural Center, as well as 13 universities and some schools, teach Korean to some 2,500 people annually.
State Republican Academic Korean Musical Comedy Theatre operates in the republic. It is the first national Korean theatre in the world and the only national Korean theatre operating outside the Korean peninsula.
In our country, a number of outstanding Korean artists have emerged - Vladimir Kim, Dina Kim, Rimma Kim, Nikolay Lee, Gennady Kim, Lavrenty Song, Georgy Song and others.
Among the athletes - Olympic champion of the world, Europe and Kazakhstan Nellie Kim. Yuri Tskhai made a significant contribution to the development of boxing. He has prepared European champions, Olympic medalists, champions of the USSR and Kazakhstan. Pupils of Honored Coach Maya Hwan became world, European and national champions and record-breakers in speed skating. Unfortunately, the famous figure skater, bronze medalist of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games Denis Ten was tragically killed. Several weightlifting champions were brought up by Alexey Ni. Kazakhstani Koreans actively participate in the public life of the country. A significant role in this is played by the Association of Koreans of Kazakhstan (AKK), established in March 1990 in Almaty. The first president was professor, academician Guriy Khan. A serious material and technical base of the AKK has been formed, a clear organizational structure has been built, and a youth movement has been created.
Under the leadership of Sergey Ogay, AKK has been working on international integration with foreign Korean organizations since 2015. Today, when the economy of Kazakhstan faces the task of attracting foreign investments, there is no doubt that the AKK will make its next significant contribution.
Annually, AKK carries out more than 20 different projects and programs of national and international scale. In 2018, events dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the newspaper Koryo Ilbo, a scientific conference with the participation of South Korea and the DPRK, the III Generation Forum, the CIS Youth Forum, business forums, festivals, concerts, exhibitions and conferences were held. It is important that the Association has a single communication channel - the newspaper "Koryo Ilbo" and the Internet portal koreans.kz based on the newspaper.
The projects of the Association of Koreans are invariably supported by the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan. For example, in 2010, it supported AKK’s project "Greenhouse complex and the Center for Training of South Korean Vegetable Growing Technologies in Indoor Vegetables", implemented in the Almaty region in the city of Ushtobe.
Yelbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev set this project as an example to other ethnocultural associations of Kazakhstan at the XVII session of APK. He has charged to render support to innovative-industrial hi-tech projects of members of ethno-cultural associations in the field of agriculture. Besides, has given the order about attraction by ethno-cultural associations of Kazakhstan of investments and high technologies. And this order the Association of Koreans of Kazakhstan carries out successfully.
About 100 thousand ethnic Koreans living in Kazakhstan form a strong bridge between our countries. Keeping and developing connections with the historical native land, many representatives of the Korean ethnos use this potential for strengthening of friendship and mutually advantageous cooperation between our states.
Today the Korean ethnos became an integral part of the united people of Kazakhstan, and its representatives actively participate in economic, social, scientific and cultural development of the country. Koreans of Kazakhstan have become an example of striving for the development of high technology, business, the cult of knowledge, pragmatism and competitiveness.
They owe their successes and achievements not only to the genetically inherent character traits, but also to the atmosphere of mutual understanding, harmony and friendship with the Kazakhs and other ethnic groups of Kazakhstan. Acquisition here by representatives of this ancient people of a new homeland and their deep roots on the Kazakhstan land speak about durability of historical unity of the peoples of our republic. Koreans of our country together with all Kazakhstanis have appeared on height of the historical moment, having stretched out hands to each other in critical periods of life. And, of course, this memory will be passed from generation to generation.
АUTHOR:
Zhanseit Tuimebayev,
Deputy Chairman of the Assembly of people of Kazakhstan – Head of APK’s Secretariat of the Executive Office of the President RK
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