Kazakhstani Koreans Wield Disproportionate Influence

UNCLAS ASTANA 000282

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN - MARTY O'MARA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ECON SOCI KZ
SUBJECT: Kazakhstani Koreans Wield Disproportionate Influence


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Summary
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1. (SBU) Summary: Kazakhstan's ethnic Korean minority has made great
strides in the country's business and political spheres since
independence, with a number of them holding influential positions.
The success Kazakhstani Koreans have achieved in the post-Soviet era
is a product of their higher rates of urbanization and education as
well as their role as facilitators for South Korean investment.
While members of other minority groups emigrated from Kazakhstan in
large numbers during the 1990's, few ethnic Koreans chose to do so,
and Kazakhstan became a destination for ethnic Koreans emigrating
from elsewhere in Central Asia. End Summary.

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Koreans in Kazakhstan
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2. (U) An estimated 100,000 ethnic Koreans -- about 0.7 percent of
the country's population -- reside today in Kazakhstan. Like many
of Kazakhstan's minority communities, ethnic Koreans came to inhabit
Kazakhstan as the result of Stalinist-era deportations. In 1937,
the mass resettlement of Koreans living in the Russian Far East was
ordered on the pretense that they posed a security risk to the
Soviet Union during a period of tensions Korea's colonial master,
Imperial Japan.


3. (U) Kazakhstani Koreans were assimilated into ethnic Russian --
rather than ethnic Kazakh -- culture during the Soviet era. Today,
most speak only Russian and only the elderly still have knowledge of
Korean. According to Alexander Kim, the Chairman of the Astana
branch of the Association of Koreans in Kazakhstan, marriages
between Koreans and non-Koreans are common and carry no social
stigma. Today, no evidence of tensions between Koreans and Kazakhs
or any other group in this multi-ethnic society is readily
apparent.

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Influence Greater Than Numbers
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4. (SBU) Ethnic Koreans hold a disproportionately large presence in
Kazakhstan's business sphere. Ethnic Kazakhs sometimes refer to
Kazakhstani Koreans as the "tortinshi zhuz," i.e., "the fourth
horde," because of their influence and propensity for supporting
each other. (Comment: Ethnic Kazakhs are divided into three hordes
or "zhuzes," the Great Horde or Uli Zhuz, the Middle Horde or Orta
Zhuz, and the Small Horde or Kishi Zhuz. End Comment.) According
to Professor German Kim, a leading expert on the Korean diaspora in
the former Soviet Union, Kazakhstani Koreans are often stereotyped
by other Kazakhstanis as being generally affluent.


5. (U) Several Kazakhstani Koreans are particularly noteworthy
figures in the country's business and political spheres. For
instance, Vladimir Kim and Vladimir Ni are close associates of
President Nazarbayev and serve on the board of Kazakhmys,
Kazakhstan's largest copper mining company. Victor Tsoi heads the
Ak Ayul construction company, one of Kazakhstan's largest, and was
elected as a deputy to the Majilis -- the lower chamber of
Kazakhstan's parliament --- in September 2007. Oleg Nam is
currently the Chairman of the Board of Kuat, a large construction
company hit hard by the reverberations of the global financial
crisis. The previous Kuat chairman, Yuriy Tckhay, is also a
Kazakhstani Korean. Tckhay is currently the President of Caspian
Bank and since 1999 as been the Chairman of the Political Council of
the ruling Nur Otan (previously Otan) party. Finally, Georgiy Kim
served as Kazakhstan's Minister of Justice during 2002-03 and since
2004 has been the Deputy Procurator General.

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Roots of Success
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6. (SBU) Higher rates of education and urbanization among
Kazakhstani Koreans during the Soviet period left members of this
group well-position to prosper in a market economy. According to
Professor German Kim, Soviet Koreans were twice as likely to obtain
a higher education as the population in general. Moreover,
Kazakhstani Koreans were -- and continue to be -- concentrated in
cities. This has allowed them to take advantage of Kazakhstan's
hydrocarbon-driven economic boom which has spurred dramatic economic
growth in urban areas over the last decade, but left behind much of
rural Kazakhstan.


7. (SBU) Investments in Kazakhstan by South Korean companies have
also benefited Kazakhstani Koreans. When South Korean companies
first entered Kazakhstan in the early 1990's, local Koreans often
served as the foundation for their investment projects, according to
Chungho Tae, a Second Secretary from the South Korean Embassy in
Kazakhstan. Many Kazakhstani Koreans went to work for South Korean
firms, gaining valuable business experience and an understanding of
modern business practices. Furthermore, many South Korean
multinationals developed business relationships with local
Kazakhstani Korean-owned companies, assisting the survival and
development of those firms in the pivotal years of economic shocks
in the 1990's. However, as Kazakhstani Korean companies become more
confident, they are no longer satisfied with the subordinate
position they once held and are increasingly insisting on dealing
with South Korean companies on even terms, according to Jong-mun
Won, a First Secretary from the South Korean Embassy.

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Here to Stay
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8. (SBU) While many of Kazakhstan's ethnic Russians and Germans been
able to take advantage of laws in Russia and Germany which have
facilitated their emigration from Kazakhstan, no such option is
available to Kazakhstani Koreans. According to Yang Goo Lee, the
head of the South Korean Embassy's Astana office, his government's
policy is not to encourage their immigration to South Korea, but
rather to promote their retention of their language and culture in
Kazakhstan. Alexander Kim of the Association of Koreans in
Kazakhstan added that Kazakhstani Koreans have not been able to
immigrate to South Korea because of that country's rather onerous
requirements to obtain residency. In any case, he contended,
Kazakhstani Koreans are not interested in emigrating.


9. (SBU) Kazakhstan has also become a destination for ethnic Koreans
emigrating from elsewhere in Central Asia. The first wave of ethnic
Korean immigrants arrived in the 1990's as refugees from the Civil
War in Tajikistan and in recent years they have been joined by
Uzbekistani Koreans attracted by the prospect of economic
opportunities in Kazakhstan. Members of these groups, like other
impoverished immigrants to Kazakhstan, are more likely to face
levels of discrimination which their ethnic kin native to Kazakhstan
have so far not encountered, according to Professor German Kim.

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Comment
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10. (SBU) Kazakhstani Koreans perceive that ethnic Kazakh
nationalism is on the rise and could some day threaten the great
strides their community has made to succeed in the post-Soviet
world. They are heavily supportive of President Nazarbayev in part
because they see him as a reliable bulwark against Kazakh
nationalism. In a country where economic success is frequently
dependent on government connections -- or at least the absence of
state interference -- Kazakhstani Koreans remain concerned about a
post-Nazarbayev era, and the prospects that a successor
administration could be inclined to more aggressively promote the
interests of Kazakhs over Koreans and other minority groups. End
Comment.