Extralegal Labor of the Russian Far Eastern Residents in South Korea: Free Will and Homecoming

Abstract

The paper analyzes the extra-legal labor practices
of Far Eastern residents in the South Korean labor
market. It shows that the extra-legal labor market
and the discourse of development projects have
formed two overlapping logics. Working for small
enterprises embeds migrants from the Russian Far
East into the chains of global corporations, thereby redefining self-perception in terms of physical resources as neoliberal disciplinary
practices. “Humiliating” practices of selecting workers according to physical characteristics (and related shame and further selfirony), the motivating power of high
wages, hard work, and the subsequent return home through intertwining networks
of actors (migrants as part of the migration infrastructure) lead to a reinterpretation
of themselves, region, and place. Thus, working in South Korea as low-skilled workers with higher wages than can be received in Russia leads to a repoliticization of
the equitable distribution of resources, reversing the anti-political machine of development (by Ferguson). This paper is based on a series of field studies (observation
and biographical keynote interviews) in the Republic of Buryatia, Primorsky Krai,
and Amur Oblast conducted by the project team in 2018–2020.