National Records Designation System

What is the National Records Designation System?

Among private archives produced or acquired by individuals or organizations, the records considered to have national preservation values are designated and managed in Korea in the National Records Designation System. The country is supporting the systematic preservation of such records.
Among the references held in the center, 23 volumes of Goryeoin cultural and artistic records were registered as No. 13 nationally designated archives in January 2020.
It is greatly significant in the sense that the Korean government has recognized the value of vernacular records handed down by the Goryeoin, fellow countrymen, at the national level.
For Goryeoin, who reside in the former Soviet Union and Korea, this can be the official confirmation of their historical homeland on the cultural achievement obtained by direct ancestors.
The registered Goryeoin vernacular cultural and artistic records are the following: 8 play manuscripts by first-generation Goryeo theater playwright Kim Hae-Un, 2 novel manuscripts by first-generation Goryeo prose writer Kim Ki-Cheol, 2 manuscripts of Goryeo songs transcribed in 1945, 9 manuscripts of plays and novels by second-generation Goryeoin playwright Han Jin, and 2 volumes of the Goryeo theater photo album.

Kim Hae-Un (1909-1981)

He is a playwright, actor, and director. He was one of the most outstanding people in Goryeo theater's history.
In 1932, he participated as the founding member of the Korean People's first theater specializing in the Korean language, namely "Vladivostok Goryeo Theater."
In 1939, he led the establishment of Uzbekistan's "Tashkent Chosun Theater"; in 1950, he went to Sakhalin and revived "Sakhalin Chosun Theater".
Then, from 1932 to 1959, he left many plays on various topics at Goryeo Theater in Vladivostok, Tashkent, and Sakhalin.

Kim Ki-Cheol (1907-1993)

He was a representative first-generation Goryeoin prose literature writer with the most elegant and fine writing style.
He had written many plays and prose ever since he lived in the Maritime Provinces, and he used to work with Poseok Cho Myung-hee at the Byeon-gang publishing company in Khabarovsk.
After the forced displacement, he served as a reporter for the Goryeoin Korean newspaper "Lenin Gichi" and as a theater director of "Sakhalin Joseon Theater."
He wrote and staged plays of "Dongbyun Partisan" (1934) and "Hong Gil-dong" (1943). He also presented a short novel, "When Red Stars Were Visible" (1963) in "Lenin Gichi."
In 1987, he published a collection of novels, "When Red Stars Were Visible" in Kazakhstan. His pen name was Bukchon.

Jeon Myung-Jin (circa 1924-1996)

She is the youngest brother of Jeon Sun Nyeo, the misfortunate singer who made a name for herself as one of the top three Goryeoin singers in Maritime Provinces before the forced displacement.
He performed as an actor at Tashkent Chosun Theater (1939-1950), and after the theater closed in 1950, he went to Kazakhstan and had a quiet life for a lifetime.
Jeon Myung-Jin passed down the "Jeon Myung-Jin collection of songs" (1945) that he transcribed himself and the "Alexander Lee collection of songs," which includes 171 Goryeoin oral tradition songs to his descendants.

Han Jin (1931-1993)

He is an outstanding second-generation Goryeoin Korean literature writer and the only professional playwright of Goryeo theater. He worked at "Kazakhstan Goryeo Theater" from 1964 to 1993.
By producing aesthetically sophisticated plays, he is regarded as a person who has raised the overall level of Goryeo theater.
The play "A Living Buddha" (1979) is one of his major works and received a great spotlight in the Soviet Cultural Community. The play even had an invitation performance in Moscow twice. The play "Explosion" (1985) remains the only work that mainly deals with Gwangju Uprising across all genres of literary works produced by Goryeoin in the Soviet Union.
In addition, the short novel "Fear" (1989) is the first accusatory work that depicts the devastation of Goryeoin's forced displacement from the most realistic and explicit point of view.

Alexander Lee Collection of Songs

That is the song manuscript of 171 Goryeoin oral tradition songs written from September 1944 to April 1945 by Alexander Lee at the request of the Tashkent Chosun Theater's actor Jeon Myung-Jin in Uzbekistan.
This is the biggest and oldest collection of songs among the Goryeoin songs discovered so far.
Nothing is known about Lee Alexander. However, since he collected the songs and transcribed them for 8 months at the request of the theater actor, it is presumed that he was a person with profound knowledge of the Goryeoin culture and arts in some way or another.

Jeon Myung-Jin Collection of Songs

"Jeon Myung-Jin Collection of Songs" is the Goryeoin's collection of songs transcribed in 1945 by "Tashkent Chosun Theater" (1939-1950) actor Jeon Myung-Jin (Circa 1924-1996). It includes a total of 49 songs with sheet music.
At the end of many songs, the time, date, month, and year the song was transcribed were also recorded.
Among the Goryeoin's collections of songs that have been passed down so far, this is the only collection transcribed with sheet music. Also, this collection of songs is one of the oldest collections discovered so far.
There are a total of 2 volumes of the photographic records of Goryeo Theater - 1 volume of "Goryeo Theater Photo Album" and 1 volume of "Goryeo Theater Actor Lee Yong-Soo Personal Photo Album."

Goryeo Theater Photo Album

The "Goryeo Theater Photo Album" is filled with 220 photos that show various plays and actors' activities per period that Goryeo Theater had staged from its founding in 1932 until around 2010.
The "Goryeo Theater Actor Lee Yong-Soo Personal Photo Album" has 44 photos taken while he performed as a theater actor from 1940 to 1970.
Goryeo Theater was established in 1932 at Vladivostok, and it is now the world's first Korean-language theater that continues its legacy as the Korean Theater in Kazakhstan.