Overseas Koreans Agency honors artist who chronicled Soviet deportation

The Overseas Koreans Agency named the late painter Shin Soon-nam as the Overseas Korean of the Month for November.

Shin Soon-nam lived through the 1937 Soviet deportation of ethnic Koreans. When he was nine years old, the regime of Joseph Stalin forcibly moved approximately 172,000 ethnic Koreans from the Soviet Far East to Central Asia. The government accused the group of spying for Imperial Japan without providing evidence. Many people died during the long journey in cattle cars.

Shin survived the relocation and moved to Uzbekistan, where he studied art and began his career. He created the "Requiem" series of paintings to document the trauma of displacement and the way ethnic Koreans rebuilt their lives. His work includes a 44-meter panorama that honors the victims of the deportation and celebrates human dignity.