KOREAN NET

The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in St. Petersburg held an emergency meeting with the leaders of Korean communities in the city on Tue, Apr. 4. The meeting was attended by the president of a Korean association of St. Petersburg, president of a Korean students organization, chief executive officer of a travel agency, and other community leaders while the consul and an administrative officer from the Consulate General joined as well.

The meeting was held in response to a bombing incident at a local restaurant in the city two days earlier. The bombing occurred on Sun, Apr. 2 at Street Food Bar №1 located on Universitetskaya Embankment in St. Petersburg, Russia, resulting in 1 dead and 32 wounded. Russian war journalist and military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed by the blast. Tartarsky had been invited as a guest lecturer to an event at the restaurant to give a talk on the current situation and the prospects of the war between Ukraine and Russia and to have conversations on the same topic with about 100 participants. He was given a small statue by one of the participants, which exploded and killed him instantly. Many Korean students reside in the region where the bombing happened, so the investigation on the possible damage was immediately conducted by the Consulate General. Fortunately, none was reported.

Site of the bombing (Source: Fontanka, a Russian online news agency)

In the meeting, the Consulate General emphasized that all Koreans residing in the region should avoid approaching the bombing site to prevent themselves from being exposed to any secondary damage. Russia government is currently suspecting that Ukraine was behind the incident. It is thus best not to go near the site since anyone passing by could be inspected as a suspect and taken to the police office, according to the Consulate General. Moreover, reminding of the St. Petersburg metro explosion on April 2, 2017, the Consulate General recommended to avoid any place or facilities with concentrated crowds. The chief executive officer of a travel agency saw the site 30 minutes before the meeting by a car and stated that this was a matter everyone should be cautious about. Sundo Choi, president of a Korean association in St. Petersburg, believed that the incident might not have been an accident but planned since the restaurant owner was Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Kremlin’s Wagner mercenary.

In addition, the changes in entry and exit to the country overland was informed. Previously, in order to drive a car registered in Russia in Europe, a driver needed an international insurance document called a green card. The agreement between Russia and Europe reciprocally accepted the green card issued from the respective countries. However, the termination of the agreement no longer allows cars registered in Russia to enter any regions in Europe by car when the green card is issued in Russia instead of the territories in Europe. This is an example of how the war is loading to Korean communities in Russia not only economic burdens but also restraint in human exchanges.

2023 emergency meeting by Korean communities in St. Petersburg

A small luncheon, followed by the discussion, closed the meeting. Korea government is reported to be preparing for the post-war situations despite difficult diplomatic circumstances. For example, they are asking for a cooperation to Russia officials to build the statue of diplomat Bumjin Lee in Russia and working hard to communicate with other departments in Korea to assign proper budget on this matter. It was also added that good news would be heard from the government soon. The meeting was a valuable time to communicate with different Korean communities in difficult time and to share wisdom and solutions to overcome the dire situation.