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David Chung: NBC News Article

Koryo 2017

Stamps Professor David Chung discusses the history of Koryo Saram, Koreans who lived in the Russian Far East before being deported to Central Asia, in a recent NBC News article. 

The congregants of All Nations Baptist Church include Uzbeks, Kazakhs, and Ukrainians. The pastor is of Korean ancestry. And everyone, including him, speaks Russian.

I am working in America because I love this country, I love people,” Rev. Leonid Kim told NBC News. Love is a very important thing.”

How 66-year-old Kim is fluent in Russian — and how he ended up in New York City — is a story that traces back more than a century.

Facing harsh economic conditions, Koreans began migrating to the Russian Far East in the mid-1800s, according to David Chung, a professor at the University of Michigan.

In Brooklyn, a Korean Pastor Leads a Russian-Speaking Flock | NBC News