This led to a diaspora population called Koryo-saram in areas like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan that persists.

[1][2][3] Due to a combination of Soviet assimilationist policies and necessity, Koryo-saram rapidly forgot the Korean language.

[1] Due to a revision of the 1999 Overseas Koreans Act in 2004, Uzbeks began repatriating to South Korea at greater rates.

[3] He said in an interview, "I began learning Korean in search of my identity, but I felt disappointed when I actually came to Korea.

The Hollywood Reporter wrote of it:[2] Pak’s own background is near identical to that of his characters, and his intimate knowledge of the Korean-Uzbek situation — their cultural assimilation hampered by the fact that many can speak Russian but not Uzbek — gives his film a freshness and originality, which effectively counterbalances the predictability of Stas’s painful path to perdition and redemption.