Choi Guk-In, Minor Diaspora, and Year of the Dragon:From Chongjin to Shanghai, Moscow and Almaty

This essay examines the idea of “minor diaspora” through the case study of Choi Guk-In’s biography and his co-directed film, Year of the Dragon [Год Дракона, 1981]. Engaging with migration, sojourning, exile and minor diaspora, double diaspora and internal diaspora, it uses analysis of forms and forces driving population movements to distinguish key concepts within the framework of migration and diaspora that highlight salient differences amongst “Sino-Korean screen connections.” Turning to Choi and Year of the Dragon, it focuses on understanding both the idea of minor diaspora and the film through minor-to-minor diasporic and ethnic relations. By attending to the film’s status as a connection between the North Korean diaspora within the Korean diaspora in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Uyghur diaspora in the Kazakh SSR, as well as the Kazakh—North Korean co-direction of the film, it hopes to bring out new meanings and enable us to see the tactics adopted by the otherwise voiceless.