Russia lauds 'Koryo Saram' in trans-Eurasian road trip

The Russian Embassy here, commemorating the 150th anniversary of Korean migration to Russia, celebrated on Tuesday at the Russian chancery the arrival of a trans-Eurasian auto-trek rally team.

It was perhaps the first time ever for a team to make the arduous 16,000 kilometer trans-Eurasian road trip by car from Moscow to Seoul. The team crossed Siberia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, not to mention North Korea. Every region they passed through has substantial populations of ethnic Korean residents, called "Koryo saram" here.

The team set off from Moscow on July 7. Forty days later, they arrived at the Dorasan Inter-Korean Transit Office in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, at the inter-Korean border on Aug. 16.

Russian Ambassador to South Korea Konstantin V. Vnukov (fourth from left) and Vasiliy Ivanovich Cho (fourth from right), chairman of the association for Koreans in Russia, pose with members of the auto rally team at the Russian chancery in Seoul on Tuesday. (Philip Iglauer/The Korea Herald)

The 32 members and the eight vehicles of the rally team also passed through Khabarovsk, Sakhalin and Vladivostok in the Russia Federation, before passing into North Korea. The Russian Embassy was instrumental in securing entrance into the North. The team donated three of their vehicles to North Korea, so five of the eight cars that set out on the trip actually made it to South Korea.

The trip's route was symbolic, too, as they traveled in reverse the route Koreans took when they left their homeland to forge a better life in Russia, according to the Committee for Commemoration Project of the 150th Anniversary of the Relocation of Koryo People.

Vasiliy Ivanovich Cho, chairman of the association for Koreans in Russia, said during Tuesday's reception organized in his team's honor that he hopes the trek will contribute to improving inter-Korean relations and prospects for peace and goodwill between the two Koreas.

On Tuesday, the team departed by car for Busan, as part of a participatory campaign with some 100 South Koreans, to complete its Russia-to-South Korea journey. The trip ended on Aug. 24 at Donghae Port in Gangwon Province.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)< ⓒKoreaHerald(www.koreaherald.com)무단전재 및 재배포 금지 >