1990-01-02 사할린의 가족을 찾습니다

사할린의 가족을 찾습니다 Aired on January 2, 1990 and shows ethnic Koreans in Sakhalin Island, Russia meeting via video link with family members in South Korea. In many cases, this was the first time seeing these family members in 50 years. Russians citizens and/or residents of Korean descent living on Sakhalin Island mostly trace their roots to the immigrants from the Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces. During the 1930s and early 1940s, Japan controlled the southern half of Sakhalin Island and forced Korean laborers to go there to fill labor shortages during World War II. The Russian Red Army invaded the island days before Japan's surrender. While all but a few Japanese repatriated successfully, Russia refused to grant permission to one-third of the Koreans to depart. For the next 40 years, they lived in exile. In 1985, the Japanese government offered transit rights and funding for the repatriation of the original group of Sakhalin Koreans. However, only 1,500 of them returned to South Korea in the next two decades; with the vast majority of them choosing to stay on Sakhalin. This broadcast was led by legendary South Korean KBS News anchorman 박성범 (the Walter Cronkite of South Korean news).