Migration legislation of the Korean kingdom and its application to settlers in the South Ussuri krai (second half of the XIX century)

The article examines a little-studied aspect of the migration policy of the Korean kingdom in the XIX century, i.e. the use of the articles of the Statute of 1784 in relation to the citizens who moved to the South Ussuri Krai. The transfer of Korean subjects to the borders of the Russian Empire was qualified as a grave crime. But the punishments were different, depending on the purpose of crossing the border: corporal punishment, exile, death penalty by beheading. Koreans who left Korea were not allowed to return to their homeland on pain of death. The frontier authorities took all possible measures to prevent the resettlement of Korean subjects in the South Ussuri Krai. In the last third of the XIX century, the authorities practically refused to use in their practice the articles of the 1784 Statute, stopped applying harsh punishments for unauthorized migration to Russia and switched to measures aimed at voluntary return of migrants to their homeland. For their part, the Russian authorities persistently urged the Korean authorities to soften the repressive migration legislation and implement a coordinated migration policy that would make it possible to legalize migration flows and regulate them. This was accomplished in the last third of the XIX century.