148 Chapter 6
Korean clinic with three doctors and a hospital in Nadezhdinsk were being
opened.^160 Raisa Nigai gave a speech at the Korean Women’s Congress in
March (see Figure 11).
However, prior to the deportation order for the Koreans, Pravda
stepped up a whirlwind campaign of branding and converting the RFE
Chinese and Koreans into a Soviet “yellow peril.” This work was one part of
the Terror, for it created conditions that left full deportation as the only solu-
tion. On April 23, 1937, Pravda published “Foreign Espionage in the Soviet
Far East,” which accused Chinese, Koreans, and Rus sian White Guardists
of spying. It stated, “the intelligence network considers the national compo-
sition of each region of our territory and, correspondingly, sends out agents
who are Korean, Chinese, and Rus sian White Guardists.” The article con-
cluded with a remark that pointed the fin ger right at Koreans: “Repeated
arrests in the border areas of foreign spies, kolkhoz workers (names male and
female), and even pioneers shows beautiful examples of vigilance, examples
that Soviet citizens can and should fight against foreign espionage.”^161 It was
common knowledge that Koreans constituted 95 percent of the population
of Poset raion, the only Rus sian territory that shared a border with Korea.
By “foreign spies” in the border regions residents of the RFE clearly under-
stood that Pravda was referring to Koreans. On July 9, 1937, Pravda pub-
lished prob ably the most detailed accusation of Chinese and Koreans
as agents of Japa nese espionage. Essentially, the July 9 article “Foreign
Figure 11. A pamphlet/card from a Soviet Korean Women’s Conference in the RFE held
from March 8 to 10, 1937. Raisa Nigai served as a delegate and gave a speech (see Nigai or
Ni, which is signed on the card). Even as the Stalinist regime planned for the deportation
of the Koreans, the themes of korenizatsiia (national rights, women’s equality, etc.) were still
being promoted. Photo material courtesy of Raisa Nigai.