(C) The Overseas Koreans Agency (OKA)

Twenty-four second-generation Sakhalin Koreans are scheduled to arrive at Gimpo Airport on the 18th to experience their ancestral homeland. The visitors are the children of deceased first-generation Sakhalin Koreans (average age 78), with 21 coming from Sakhalin, Russia, and 3 from other regions in Russia. They will depart on the 24th.

The Overseas Koreans Agency (OKA) is promoting a homeland visit program in collaboration with the Korean Red Cross for second-generation Sakhalin Koreans who are not eligible for permanent return due to the death of their first-generation parents.

This program aims to enhance the second-generation Sakhalin Koreans' understanding of their motherland, whose ties may have weakened after the passing of their parents, and to strengthen their sense of identity as members of the Korean people.

The participants will tour major attractions in Seoul and visit Gyeongju, where APEC was recently held, as well as Mungyeong Saejae and Danyang, to experience Korea’s traditional culture and autumn scenery. They will also have time to reunite with relatives, including siblings, currently residing in South Korea.

In accordance with the "Special Act on the Support of Sakhalin Koreans," the OKA supports the permanent return of Sakhalin Koreans and their accompanying families who were forcibly relocated to Sakhalin during the Japanese colonial period but were unable to return to their home country after liberation.

In addition, the OKA supports homeland visits for permanent resident Sakhalin Koreans' children or grandchildren residing overseas, such as in Sakhalin. Forty second and third-generation Sakhalin Koreans visited South Korea last October.

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